Sustainable development in Libya. Stakeholders' attitudes towards sustainable tourism development in Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi City, Libya

Tourism has become the most important source for stimulating the economies of countries of the world. It stimulates enormous investment in infrastructure and helps states to improve their balance of payments, which should help to create job opportunities and improve the living conditions of local people by helping to equalise economic opportunities and keep rural residents from moving to overcrowded cities (WTO, 2007). Libyan economy is still dependent on oil by a large margin, with the knowledge that there are other sectors which can participate in the diversification of the economy, but not given the opportunity by the Government (such as the tourism sector). But tourism development in order to be useful in the long term must be sustainable. Berlin Declaration of 1997 suggested that “achieving sustainable forms of tourism is the responsibility of all stakeholders involved, where it is critical that planners and decision-makers understand the attitudes of stakeholders towards sustainable actions in tourism development". The aim of the study is to explore the possibility of treating sustainable tourism development in the Al-Gabal Al-Gharbi City (GGC) in the future, by recognizing the extent of support that can be provided by key stakeholders for tourism, according to the study of their attitudes toward tourism development in this city. The GGC was selected as a case for the study because it is representative of other cities in Libya which are in urgent need of development projects in order to find solutions to many economic, social and environmental problems. Four key groups of stakeholders were selected to participate in this study (local residents, tourists, government sector, and the private sector). The researcher used "mixed method" to collect main data such as: The questionnaire which was used as a key method to discover the attitudes of residents and tourists, and the interviews used to explore the attitudes of the public and private sectors. Additionally, the researcher also used reports, studies, books, tables, images and maps published together with field visits to some tourist sites including close monitoring of the reality as a secondary source for data collection. The study led to some important findings, where it confirmed the existence of good tourist resources in the city in terms of quantity and quality of tourist products and identified the possibility of competition at the local and global levels. However many tourist sites would need more care and attention in terms of discovery, maintenance, advertising, and training. Thus there is a need for supportive policies such as legal, administrative and financial facilities. The study confirmed as well the existence of limitless support for tourism development by all stakeholders, which is an essential element for the sustainability of tourism development in the city. The study also identified the sustainable tourism development trends in the city by identifying tourism demand, its internal and external sources, and the key tourism projects that deserve priority for development and which have the support of stakeholders.