Anirban Bhattacharya
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Despite various crises, the Tunisian tourism industry has shown remarkable resilience, with Algerian tourists being the largest group of foreign visitors.
The COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted Tunisia’s tourism sector, but it experienced a significant recovery in 2023. Approximately 8.8 million foreign tourists visited the country, marking a 50% increase compared to the previous year and surpassing the 2019 level of 8.7 million visitors. This surge generated revenues of 6.7 billion Tunisian dinars, nearly 2 billion euros. Authorities are optimistic for 2024, with the Tunisian National Tourist Office (ONTT) forecasting 9.6 million visitors.
As of May 31, foreign exchange inflows from the Tunisian tourism sector have increased by 7.9%, and the number of tourists has risen by 6%.
The tourism authority welcomes Tunisia’s strong return to European markets, particularly in Eastern Europe, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Germany, and Italy.
Despite ongoing war in Ukraine and resulting flight disruptions affecting prices, many Russians continue to visit Tunisia.
Notably, the largest group of foreign visitors comes from neighboring Algeria. In 2023, 2.7 million Algerians visited Tunisia, making up nearly one-third of the total tourists. From January 1 to July 10, 2024, over 1.4 million Algerians traveled to Tunisia for tourism, according to Foued Eloued, the Tunisian National Tourist Office representative in Algeria. Additionally, Libya, another neighboring country, provided the second-largest number of visitors in 2023, with 2.1 million visitors.
France remains a significant source of tourists for Tunisia. However, there has been a decline since the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7. The president of the Tunisian Federation of Travel and Tourism Agencies (FTAV) states that Tunisia offers better value for money compared to many other destinations, including Greece, France, Spain, Morocco, and Egypt.
Tags: Africa, Africa tourism, algeria, armenia, Egypt., Europe, france, greece, Italy, Middle East, moldova, morocco, romania, spain, Tourism, Travel News, Tunis, Tunis Tourism News, Tunisia Tourism News
