ABSTRACT
Unlike its neighbours, Morocco and Tunisia, Algeria never exploited tourism as a mzyor economic sector. Despite great potential, due to remarkable natural sites, Algerian authorities shunned tourism for social and religious considerations. Because the country enjoyed important hydrocarbon resources, the political leadership devoted little attention to what could have been an extremely lucrative industry. However, since the mid-1980s, the Algerian regime sought to compensate for the dwindling foreign earnings (due to the drop in oil prices) by progressively liberalizing and privatizing the tourist industry. This chapter examines the Algerian tourist industry since the country's independence. The objective in this chapter is to analyse the reasons that prevented successive Algerian governments from promoting this industry. As this chapter will show, economic necessities were the main reason for the authorities changing their attitude towards tourism. Furthermore, the encouragement of tourism may have come too late; the rise of religious extremism and the violence, which has ravaged Algeria, have hampered even further the development of this industry.
