Government to Exploit Mosques, Churches to Pump Extra Dollars in Public Treasury
Saint Augustin Church in Annaba. Photo: copyright
Government decided to embark on the exploitation of mosques, Zawiays and Churches to attract tourists for the recovery of the public treasury, which noticed an erosion in savings over the past months, due to the continuation of oil crisis and its exacerbation, at a time when the Tourism Minister, Amar Ghoul, rushed on Wednesday, to sign on the exploitation of religious structures with the Religious Affairs and Endowments Minister, Mohamed Issa, to launch the process immediately, which is expected to bring revenues in hard currency.
Tourism and Handicrafts Minister, Amar Ghoul, said the government will officially begin to exploit the St. Augustine Church in Annaba and his home town in Souk Ahras (eastern Algeria), and Tijani Zawya in Laghouat, in order to bring in tourists from Christians and Muslims from various parts of the world, and this is along the lines of what is done in Turkey and Jordan, which are exploiting the mosques and religious structures largely to revive the public treasury and bring in hard currency.
“An agreement was signed between the Tourism and Religious Affairs’ Ministries, and this is the first step that falls in the context of building a strong national economy outside hydrocarbons, which stems from the principle of the promotion after the Algerian identity and its Amazigh, Arab, and Islamic history, and the exploitation of religious events to promote it, as well as opening up to other cultures, religions and traditions.”
For his part, the Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments, Mohamed Issa, thinks that the promotion for the historical and religious areas and attracting tourists from around the world falls in the framework of getting out of dependency on hydrocarbons, especially since Algeria passes a difficult economic condition, after the collapse of the oil price, as it needs to bringing more hard currency in the public treasury, suggesting at the same time the possibility of exploiting traditional industries through the purchase of families and small enterprises products to use them in mosques, for example, which will bring the largest number of tourists.