Three million Algerians went abroad to spend summer holidays

Head of tour agencies union Ilyes Senoussi said 3 million Algerians spent summer holidays in Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Dubai.

The head of tour agencies union said Algerians prefer to visit other countries. Agencies received many requests to spend summer holidays abroad.

“Unfortunately, tourism reality in Algeria did not change although officials promised to improve it. Because of that, Algerians go to neighbour countries such as Tunisia and Morocco along with other countries like Turkey,” he added.

Earlier, Algeria’s tourism minister Abdelouahab Nouri made remarks about the situation of tourism sector in Algeria, saying it is very bad.

“The minister said the truth. The touristic extension areas do not exist because they are occupied by shantytowns and industrial extension. This does not allow to build touristic cities and hotels on time,” said Senoussi.

“I am sorry for this situation. The sector has been neglected for years while tourism resources were supposed to replace oil incomes as its price went down,” he added.

Speaking about events on Algerian-Tunisian borders due to a 30 dinar-tax, Senoussi said the tax has been imposed for more than four years. The problem touches residents living on border provinces and who go to Tunisia a lot.