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 Introduction - Privatization - Partnerships - Investment - Oil and Gas - Mining -
Electricity - Building for the future - Telecoms - Air and Sea - Private Sector - Finance -
Going Public - Image is everything - Tourism - Conclusion 
 REVIVING TOURISM |
Promoting tourism will be the next challenge for the Algerian government. The civil war immersed the country in a long period of isolation from the outside world, travel warnings regularly kept tourists away and tour operators kept Algeria off the map. Even last year, the great Algerian Sahara desert - the main tourist attraction of the country - attracted only 15,000 tourists.
Yet with the return of peace in the desert and on the coast, Algeria offers an original cultural and geographical blend for eco-tourism that is unmatched anywhere else. Not only is it unexploited, but also it offers destinations to the Sahara desert in the South, and the long Mediterranean coastline in the North. Culture also reflects the huge size of Algeria through the unique Touareg lifestyle of the great Algerian South, the unique culture of the Kabyle people, and the untouched way of life in small villages.
Unfortunately, during the past twenty years, tourism was never a priority, but today the government has realized the importance of promoting Algeria as a tourism destination. The National Tourism Office, ONT, has finally developed a long-term tourism program, which aims at developing hotel infrastructure re-defining Algeria's image. "There is a dire need for investment to mobilize the necessary resources" comments Atman Sahnoune, former Head of ONT. "Structures and facilities date back to the 1970's, and must be modernized. Moreover, these facilities need new management structures requiring the creation of new products aimed at specific markets, all of which are part of the privatization package. In fact, the public sector as a whole is open for direct sale: stakes are open for sale as well as joint ventures".
One of the hotels to incarnate the present revolution in the tourism sector is certainly the Sheraton-Club des Pins. Paradoxically, this was the first global hotel chain to operate in Algeria. Going back to May 1999, Algeria entered the Starwood family with the grand opening of the Sheraton-Club des Pins in Algiers, an event that happened to coincide with the 35th annual summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). In addition to hosting the 1999 summit, the hotel had the privilege of lodging the presidential delegations of all participating countries. Algiers has since been the capital city of many historical events and international conferences, most notably for the signing of the peace treaty between Ethiopia and Eritrea during which Madeleine Albright and Kofi Annan were present.
| Today, the Sheraton-Club des Pins' success has prompted Sheraton to open two new hotels in the next two years: one in the Southern mining town of Hassi Messaoud, and another on the coastal city of Oran. Algeria was offering a unique opportunity to the Sheraton: to develop the hospitality sector, certainly high in potential but low in resources and expertise. After the Algiers' experience where the Sheraton-Club des Pins maintains an average 80% occupancy rate throughout the year, Starwood seems eager to push for what could be the Mediterranean's hottest new business and leisure destination.
The majority of local hotels, on the other hand, are in the unfortunate position of not being able to compete with an international brand like Sheraton. They have neither the name recognition nor the facilities that business people look for upon their arrival in Algeria. There is, however, one locally owned hotel still capable of giving the Sheraton a run for its money: the historical El Djazair. Built in 1789, the El Djazair hotel originally served as the residence of the Dey of Algiers. Following the French occupation, it was first transformed into guesthouse for British artistocrats, and then into the city's most illustrious hotel. The hotel has since received scores of celebrated personalities including Dwight D. Eisenhower ( who elaborated D day strategies during World War II from his room in the El Djazair ), Winston Churchill, Simone de Beauvoir, Rudyard Kipling and George Bush. Renovated in 1982, El Djazair hotel has managed to retain a timeless prestige that provides stiff competition for even the latest international chains to appear in Algiers.
It is a brand new start for Algeria's tourism sector, and everything is up for grabs. This is a theme that prevails not only in the tourism sector, but in every other sector as well. |
© World INvestment NEws, 2001.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Algeria published in Forbes Global Magazine. 12th November, 2001 Issue.
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ALGERIA,
