The Tunisian government announced on Tuesday that the number of tourists arriving in the country since the beginning of 2017 to Dec. 20 December has risen by 23 percent to 6.7 million.
In its statement, the Government explained that, of the arrivals, 1.6 million European tourists and 3.6 million tourists from the Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania) had been registered during the period in question.
Tourism revenues rose by 16.3 percent, to 2.69 billion dinars (equivalent to about 1.11 billion dollars), she added.
In March March, the head of the Tunisian government, Yusuf al-Shahed, predicted "a 30 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the country, compared to 2016, to 6.5 million in 2017."
For its part, the Tunisian tourism Ministry announced that, through a new strategy to support the tourism sector, it was seeking to attract 10 million tourists by 2020, compared with 5.7 million in 2016.
Since the beginning of this year, and until October October, 5.8 million foreign tourists have arrived in Tunisia, including 3 million Arab tourists and 1.5 million Europeans, according to official data.
In 2015, 60 European tourists were killed in two separate attacks targeting the "Pardo" museum in the Tunisian capital and the coastal city of Sousse, after which some European countries, including Britain, banned their nationals travelling to Tunisia.
A few months ago, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Belgium announced that their nationals would be warned to travel to Tunisia for the purpose of tourism.
Tunisia's tourism sector provides about 400,000 jobs directly and indirectly, and the sector's revenue accounts for 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures from the Tunisian Ministry of Tourism.
Source: "Anatolia"
Comments: 0
Post a Comment