Travel Agencies of the Southern Cities called for facilitating Visas for Foreigners

Travel agencies of the Southern wilayas, called upon the services of the Foreign Ministry to facilitate the visa procedures for foreign tourists who wanted to spend their holidays in the oasis, warning of the consequences of the failure of the tourist season in the south, which will begin next October.

Travel agencies in the areas of oases, including Ghardaia, Adrar and Timimoun (southern Algeria) complained of the obstacles they face during the reception of foreign tourists, who have expressed their desire to come to the Algerian desert, as confirmed by the First Deputy of the Head of the National Union of Travel Agencies, Charif Menaser, who is charged of transfering the suffering of the agencies managers, that are active in the oases areas, that have been excluded from the security measures taken by the State, and which included the sub-Saharan regions, like Tamanrasset, Tassili and Hogar.

Travel agencies received numerous requests from European tourists and others from the United States, who tried to book tickets in anticipation of the start of the tourist season in the Sahara, which will last from next October to March, but they were shocked by the obstacles at the consulates that required booking hotel ‭rooms before granting ‭Visas, while ‭what is applicable is different‬, because the travel Agency is responsible for receiving tourists ‭and ‭booking hotel rooms, and selecting a tourist guide‬ who accompany them in their tours in the desert as a security measure‭. ‬

Previously, the Ministry of Tourism has taken a decision that prevents tourism in the Sahara that stretches between Tamanrasset, Hogar and Tassili, because of the nature of security conditions of the Sahel region, but the agencies that were affected by this decision called for the need to separate the large Sahara and oases where security conditions are available, and called for facilitating the entry of the foreigners without the measures of travel agencies, pointing out that the movement of tourists is usually subject to strict security measures, as they are escorted by agents of national security or gendarmerie.

Owners of travel agencies think that the foreign tourists can move in the desert, but expressed ‭concern of the ‭ ‬ failure of the tourism ‭season, ‭and consequences, like the considerable material loss which may lead to bankruptcy of many ‭agencies.