Tunisia massacre hotel sees hope in ‘rebirth’
Zohra PORT EL-KANTAOUI: Some guests are in the jacuzzi as others top up their tans by the pool. Nearly two years after a bloody attack targeted a Tunisian hotel, it has finally reopened.
It was on the beach at the former Imperial Marhaba Hotel on June 26, 2015 that a Tunisian gunman opened fire with an assault rifle on foreign tourists.
Thirty-eight tourists — among them 30 Britons — were killed in the massacre that transformed a peaceful holiday scene into one of unspeakable horror.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the killings, which were carried out by Seifeddine Rezgui who was himself shot dead by police later the same day.
The hotel at the resort of Port El-Kantaoui near Sousse reopened this week, rebranded the “Kantaoui Bay.”
“You cannot forget. On the day we reopened, I could think only of the victims and their families,” said hotel owner Zohra Driss.
The parliamentarian with the ruling Nidaa Tounes party calls Tuesday’s reopening a “breath of rebirth” that enabled people “to have new confidence in life.”
Daesh attack on the beach resort 120 kilo- meters (75 miles) south of the capital was the second of three to hit the North African country in 2015.
In March, 22 people — including 21 tourists — had been killed in shootings at the National Bardo museum in Tunis.
And in November, a suicide bomber killed 12 members of the presidential guard in the capital. It was a shocking black year for the tourism-reliant economy.
Since then, apart from coordinated attacks on security forces in Ben Guerdane near the border with Libya in March last year, the authorities say the situation has improved, but they remain vigilant.
At Port El-Kantaoui, Driss said that nearly six million dinars ($2.4 million) has been spent on her hotel.
“We changed nearly everything: The decor, color scheme, furniture, the gardens...”
On Friday, workers were still fixing small jobs in the hotel which employs nearly 200 people, General Manager Ramzi Kessissa said.
Despite what had happened there nearly two years ago, the hotel which used to be part of Spain’s Riu chain, but is now with Germany’s Steigenberger, did not lay off a single member of staff.
Last June, on the first anniversary of the mass killing, a memorial ceremony attended by emotional hotel workers was held on the beach to pay tribute to the 38 victims.
Everyone is happy to be back at work, the head gardener for 23 years told AFP.
The high season for tourists has not yet arrived in Sousse, and there are not so many visitors yet.
French tourist Claudine Chevillard said she had no hesitation at attending the hotel reopening.
“We were told we should not go to Tunisia, because there have been attacks,” she said.
“I said ‘I am going as usual, with no problem’.”
Natalia, a Russian first-time visitor to Tunisia accompanied by her husband, said she has been there for two days and “it’s safe.”
There has been a marked increase in security since the massacre.
Then Prime Minister Habib Essid acknowledged there had been lapses in security, in particular the speed at which the police reacted to the shooting.