Tourism in Tunisia after the revolution rebound

A year after the Tunisian revolution that led to the exodus of tourists from the popular Mediterranean destination, Tunisia hopes to be in 2012 ushered in the recovery of this sector, which is the second largest source of income after the agricultural sector in this country.

He visited Tunisia in the past year, less than five million people, compared with the year 2010, as had 7 million visitors, according to the Reuters news agency.

And thus decreased tourism income, the largest source of hard currency for Tunisia by one-third in 2011, which is equivalent to 653 million dollars. And the closure of 25 hotels, myrrh, which caused the cancellation of 3,500 jobs.

The organizers hope to compensate for this sector in the half losses and attract six million visitors per year.

What caused the reluctance of tourists to go to Tunisia are some of the protests while the last taking place in some cities, especially the Tunisian capital Tunis.

The Tunisian economy is relatively small size of the GDP is not much different from that of the Dominican Republic, but it fit an indicator of the performance of the largest non-oil economies to recover from the repercussions of the Arab revolutions, especially Egypt.

The number of tourists has jumped 53% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of last year.

Tourist in the Arab market in Tunis
And make the new government in Tunisia led by Islamists strenuous efforts to emphasize the welcoming tourists, and companies after the disturbances caused in the economy contracted 1.8%, and the rise in unemployment from 13 to 18 per cent last year.

The said Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali during a conference of Mediterranean Tourism this month co-sponsored by the World Tourism Organization, "We will respect the traditions of our guests in food, clothing and lifestyle."

The Ministry of Finance expects the growth of the Tunisian economy, Tunisia 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, which would be a significant improvement from last year but remains lower than the targeted growth rate of 3.5% a year.

In order to strengthen the economic role of tourism the government recognizes the need to diversify instead of relying on tourism beaches that attract owners of limited budgets and attracts visitors from as far afield as Asia and America.