Tunisia’s 2023 tourism figures impress experts
A Tourism Ministry official noted on December 21 that the visiting figures for the North African country were positive and that targets had been exceeded,reports AFP.
Tunisia welcomed 8.8 million tourists this year, the highest it’s been since the coronavirus pandemic and in 2019 (8.7 million).
“Our objective was to recover 80% of the tourist flows recorded in 2019″, Aymen Rahmani, Director of Studies and Cooperation at the Tunisian National Tourist Office (ONTT), told the AFP.
Rahmani also confirmed that as of December 10, tourism revenue was at 6.7 billion dinars ($2.18 billion), and it is believed that a figure of 7 billion dinars ($2.27 billion) could be reached prior to the end of 2023.
READ:Algeria gives visas on entry to boost tourism
For a while, Tunisia has had economic struggles and is 80% in debt. Citizens have often pointed the finger at the struggling President Kais Saied for this. Saied has been increasingly authoritarian since his rise to power back in 2019. Experts have argued that he has disregarded the country’s democratic norms in an attempt to mask his own failings.
Tunisia’s top visitors this year were either from French speaking nations or from the region. The top were Algerians (2.7 million) then Libyans (2.1 million) followed by the French (just under 1 million).
After Morocco, Tunisia is the highest visited country in the Maghreb region and in Africa as a whole, it attracts the fourth highest amount of tourists.
Morocco, North Africa’s tourist king, will be hoping for a boost in tourism numbers in the near future as a recent earthquake plunged the country into financial struggle in what was the deadliest natural disaster in the kingdom for over 120 years.
AFP/Africa News
