Tourists return to Tunisia after thin few years

● Tunisia’s tourism industry, hard hit by jihadist attacks in 2015, has undergone a “real recovery”, with revenues up nearly a third so far this year.

“There is a significant improvement,” said Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik this week, as visitor numbers bettered the first five months of 2014, largely due to rising Russian and Chinese arrivals.

The attacks of 2015 — including one at the National Bardo museum in Tunis and another targeting a beach resort in Sousse that together killed 59 tourists and a Tunisian guard — devastated the tourism industry.

Visitor arrivals surpassed 2.3 million through to May 20, up 21.8% from the same period last year. Sector revenues hit $357million (about R4.4-billion), up 31.8% year on year.

“This is the year of real recovery,” said Elloumi.

The recovery is driven in part by the “traditional market”, including France and Germany, up 45% and 42% respectively. Visitors from China and Russia surged 57% and 46%.

“People are coming back because there is security . . . we are at the same level [of security] as any European city,” Elloumi said.

The return of tour operators including TUI France and Britain’s Thomas Cook, which pulled out after the 2015 attacks, has also helped buoy the figures.