LIBYA’S future lies in ruins — literally. The country boasts some of the finest Roman cities and remains in North Africa, and these are set to be the centrepiece of a future tourist industry that could be almost as important as oil.

Developing tourism is a top priority for Shukri al-Ghanem's reformist government. For although the oil industry currently accounts for 80 per cent of Libya’s exports and 60 per cent of its gross national product, the Prime Minister knows that overdependence on a single sector can be dangerous. It also does not supply enough jobs for the population of 5.6 million where almost a third have no work. As Ghanem told a recent conference in Dubai: “Oil revenue should not support the whole economy. We think it important to diversify”.

There is no shortage of attractions. The Romans left a huge testimony to the importance of “Africa”, as this grain-rich province was called in ancient times. Only two hours from Tripoli lies Leptis Magna, once one of the biggest ports in the Roman Empire and the birthplace of the 2nd century Emperor Septimus Severus (Libyan guides insist that he founded the “Libyan” dynasty in Rome).

The ruins are vast, and impressive, giving an insight into an astonishing range of daily activities. And yet only a third has been excavated so far. There are few tourists, no hotels and little souvenir tat to clutter up the site.

Near Tripoli again is Sabratha, another Roman site, which is also on the list of World Heritage sites. Other sites, including the covered mudbrick Islamic city of Ghadames, have been earmarked for development but are also waiting for a tourist rush. It may be a long time coming.

Developing tourism in a country that has seen few visitors for 30 years will not be easy. Libya has a 1,200-mile coastline, including magnificent unspoilt beaches, but it is still a dry country. It has few hotels that can accommodate big tourist groups, and certainly none near the historical sites.

Altogether there are only 4,000 hotel rooms in the country. The only five-star hotel in Tripoli, the Maltese-managed Corinthia Bab, is almost always fully booked by consultants, visiting diplomats and other foreigners looking to do business in Libya. It is also the only establishment that accepts credit cards in a country still cut off from the global banking system.

Several big international chains have expressed interest in opening hotels, including Mövenpick, which has a network of hotels elsewhere in the Middle East, and Italy’s Valtur. The Daewoo group has plans to build a $100 million complex in the capital and a Dutch group hopes to attract tourists tracing the history of the Second World War desert campaign with a big complex in Tobruk. Ammar Latif, Libya’s Tourism Minister, promised to have 100,000 beds available by 2010 as part of a $7 billion tourist development plan.

But as all the outside consultants note, Libya first needs an overall masterplan that will look at the need for transport, better roads, prices, restaurants and infrastructure. Above all, Libya must change its policy on visas. Obtaining any visa is still difficult, and all foreign passports officially still need to be translated first into Arabic.

The answer, many experts say, is to start slowly and develop specialist tourism first, instead of the mass market. Libya is well placed to attract relatively few, high-spending eco tourists, those interested in history and archaeology and people ready for primitive conditions. One promising area is the south, and several European groups have been taken on tours of the mountains in the desert to show them spectacular landscapes rarely seen by outsiders. There are obvious difficulties — few roads, burning heat, no back-up and the danger of clashes with suspicious tribesmen and nomadic Touaregs.

Libya knows that it must diversify beyond oil and gas exports. Other sectors in urgent need of investment include agriculture, which has been neglected under Gaddafi’s socialist system, light industry, which has barely begun to get established, and the service sector, but Libyans, three quarters of whom are employed in the state sector, have little experience of a private, competitive economy. Small, family-run trades and traditional souks and markets are still the mainstay of the private sector.

Change will come but will have to be driven by a younger, better educated generation, many of whom are now being trained overseas, and that means opening up a system that has been closed for so long. Politically, this may still be risky.

There is plenty of goodwill towards outsiders in Libya now. The question is, can this be translated into a profitable industry to attact them to the vast, sparse, beautiful country?

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