Tourism officials met last Monday on the Tunisian island of Djerba – a holidaymaker’s magnet before the Arab Spring uprisings – to revive the Mediterranean basin as the world’s top travel destination.
“The aim is to preserve the position of the Mediterranean zone as the top global destination in terms of international arrivals,” Frederic Pierret, executive director of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), told a meeting attended by 400 people from 40 countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Turkey.
The two-day meeting was organised by the UNWTO and the Tunisian government.
Host country Tunisia, where a popular uprising led to the ousting of strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, saw its tourism receipts plunge by a third in 2011.
Tourism is a key sector for the North African state, making up around eight per cent of its output and generating 400,000 jobs.
Three and a half months after an Islamist-led government took power, protests continue to plague Tunisia, fuelled by growing unemployment and higher costs of living.
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali stressed during the conference that the revolution in his country did not turn it into a “jungle.”
“Do not fear democracy and freedom,” he said, deploring the image of chaos that he claims “some want to give” to Tunisia.
Tourism Minister Elyes Fakhfakh told AFP that his country has the capacity to win back the 2.2 million tourists that chose to holiday elsewhere in 2011.
“If the situation continues to improve on the social, security plans, Tunisia could recover all of its loses by 2013,” he added, citing the almost seven million visitors recorded in 2010 as the target.
Fakhfakh stressed that Tunisia remains “an open country,” and suggested creating a Mediterranean label under which travel opportunities in the region could be jointly marketed abroad.
Six days earlier, Tunisian Ambassador to Malta, Souad Gueblaoui, had said much the same thing at a trade conference held at her residence in Attard.
In front of assembled guests from the local media and travel industry, as well as senior Tunisian tourism figures, she mooted the idea of developing combined Malta/Tunisia holiday packages for long distance tourists from countries such as the US, Australia and China.
The Malta conference was primarily aimed at demonstrating that Tunisia is a safe and desirable destination for Maltese visitors.
The number of Maltese travelling to Tunisia dropped from about 15,000 in 2004 to some 6,000 in 2006, when Air Malta stopped flying to the country, and around 3,000 last year due to the Jasmine Revolution.
Maltese travellers can reach Tunisia on Tunisair Express, with flights on Wednesdays and Sundays between Luqa and Tunis. The 70-minute, 400 km flights cost on average between €155 and €200 return, an airline spokesman said.
One local company hoping to benefit from Tunisia’s determination to attract more tourists is Amphora Travel, one of the organisers of the trade conference.
Amphora, based in Testaferrata Street, Msida, is offering a full range of three- and seven-night packages at four- and five-star hotels in Tunisia this summer, with departures from May until the end of August.