Africa

Algeria to Issue Visas on Arrival For Tourists Heading to Sahara

The seated lion mountain outside the Sahara desert village of In-Salah, south Algeria, on December 22, 2016. Africa’s largest country doesn’t attract as many tourists as neighboring states in the Maghreb region, such as Morocco and Tunisia. In recent years, however, it has stepped up efforts to boost the tourism sector.Algeria plans to allow foreign tourists traveling to the country’s southern Sahara desert to receive visas on arrival as part of an effort to enhance tourism, according to an Interior Ministry statement. The ministry noted that foreigners who have tours scheduled with “approved Algerian travel agencies” may obtain visas “on arrival at airports and land borders, instead of going through normal visa procedures” in advance via consulates and embassies.

The announcement of the new procedures “is part of the measures taken by the public authorities to promote Sahrawi tourism.” Algeria applies the principle of reciprocity in visas, with mostly complicated procedures currently in place.

The North African country receives notably fewer tourists than its neighbors, with tourism accounting for only 4.3% of the country’s GDP in 2021, well below gas and oil incomes. On average, just two million tourists visit the country per year – with half of them reportedly being Algerians living abroad. However, the country has many attractions for foreigners, including 1,200 kilometers of coastline, mountain ranges, and various historic sites. One of the main tourist destinations in Algeria is the Sahara, the world’s second-largest desert.One example of a Sahrawi attraction is the UNESCO World Heritage Site and national cultural park of Tassili in the Djanet region. Tassili contains one of the most significant groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world, with thousands of drawings and engravings illustrating climate changes, animal migrations and the development of human life.

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