TUNISIA: Tourists Sneak Back To Tunisia

Tourists are slowly returning to Tunisia ending a period of decline that followed the 2015 attacks, said the director of the Tunisian tourism office Abdellatif Hmam.

The Director said owners of the Sousse hotel which was attacked in 2015 are in the process of renovation and must complete within 15 days.

“2016 has been a calm year, without any terrorist incident, without any particular security problem. Therefore it was a year for Tunisia, overall, it was a year for the country to control its security,” he said.

He noted that the country has taken a step of 5.7 million tourists adding that in the figure, Russian market who behaved in an extraordinary way.

“The French market is in any way imperative for us. Because even as professionals, when there are no French there, we feel uncomfortable. Even if there may be all other nationalities,” Hmam explained.

He said the objective of the government in 2017 is to have 500,000 visitors adding that they are optimistic and ready to resume the tourism business.

“We have always maintained our position that we must be present (on the British market) because when we are absent, the whole destination could be completely wiped off the map. Therefore we continue to invest here and must be patient,” he added.

Unemployment is almost 30 percent in the north African country as the country suffers from the impact of the deadly militant attacks on tourists.

A least 70 hotels have been closed since September 2015 in Tunisia after the two deadly attacks on foreign tourists.

According to a recent report, only 400,000 tourists visited the country last year while a total of 1.5 million visited before the revolution of 2011 and the Jihadist attack of 2015 where 59 tourists were killed at the Bardo museum.