In the Italian colony of Libya during the course of the 1920s and 1930s there developed an extensive and quite elaborate tourist system that facilitated travel through the Mediterranean coastal region as well as deep into the pre-Saharan interior. This system combined what was among the most advanced networks of transportation and accommodation of any Western colony – providing a level of service that was coincident with or even superior to the standards that could be expected in Italy – along with a number of "authentic" local settings that brought tourists in relatively direct contact with the indigenous populations – in this case offering a vicarious, though entirely safe, experience of the local culture.