Tunisia,Tourism: The worst is yet to come?
The newspaper La Temps de Tunisie writes that the Minister of Human Rights and Transitional Justice did not hide his annoyancewhen he heard a journalist describing the recent troubles in Tunisia as "catastrophic" for the tourist season.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/TunisiaTourism-...
It is, perhaps, an exaggeration, but the journalist is not far from reality, the paper says.
The image of Tunisia as a tourist destination has been seriously affected. The comments appearing in foreign media, reflect the view that it is a rather a lawless country, with the decaying and weakening of state authority and the rise of fanaticism and religious violence.
Eric Zemmour, in his daily column, has a widely listened to radio in France, RTL. He even spoke of a "Tunisia reminiscent of 30's Berlin and Moscow under Stalin."This is not going encourage tourists to come to Tunisia and even less, investors at the time when the country most in need of capital, entrepreneurship and jobs, Le Temps observes..
It wonders how Tunisia arrived at this situation while the future looked so auspicious after the success of the first free and democratic elections in the country and hopes were raised after a democratic transition, realising the objectives of the Revolution?
Today, everybody blames each other, the paper says and the political class continues to get lost in sterile debate and narrow calculations.
It says that the government must face up to its responsibilities which guarantees safety of property and people and to impose the authority of the state first,instead of being imposed on by different elements of society.
The papers obeserves that the Ennhada led government did not see this situation coming. Yet, it was warned of the danger of violent Salafists in Tunisia. Instead, it acted with laxity and complacency. The worst is that today there are voices who find alibis for this attitude and use the excuse of promoting dialogue and consensus with the voice of its leaders, Le Temps concludes.
Travel Weekly the travel industry magazine recently published a survey saying that the majority of British travellers preferred Egypt over Tunisia which indicates that the disorder has badly damaged Tunisia's image for tourism.
A recent UN World Travel Organisation (UNTWO) conference held in January in Tunis was relatively optimistic about the Tunisian tourism industry .“Tunisia is back and ready for a solid and sustained recovery,"said Mr.Taleb Rifai Secretary General of UNTWO when he met with Tunisian Minister of Tourism Mr Elyes Fakhfakh.
Mr Fakhfakh recently said that agressive Salafist demonstrations were damaging the tourism industry's image abroad. As tourism emploies 400,000 Tunisians the Ennhada has to take a firmer stance on the Salafists.
Whilst foreign tourists were happy to support the Tunisian revolution getting caught up in extremist Al Qaeda linked demonstrations is another matter especially when they occur in the capital.
The image of Tunisia as a tourist destination has been seriously affected. The comments appearing in foreign media, reflect the view that it is a rather a lawless country, with the decaying and weakening of state authority and the rise of fanaticism and religious violence.
Eric Zemmour, in his daily column, has a widely listened to radio in France, RTL. He even spoke of a "Tunisia reminiscent of 30's Berlin and Moscow under Stalin."This is not going encourage tourists to come to Tunisia and even less, investors at the time when the country most in need of capital, entrepreneurship and jobs, Le Temps observes..
It wonders how Tunisia arrived at this situation while the future looked so auspicious after the success of the first free and democratic elections in the country and hopes were raised after a democratic transition, realising the objectives of the Revolution?
Today, everybody blames each other, the paper says and the political class continues to get lost in sterile debate and narrow calculations.
It says that the government must face up to its responsibilities which guarantees safety of property and people and to impose the authority of the state first,instead of being imposed on by different elements of society.
The papers obeserves that the Ennhada led government did not see this situation coming. Yet, it was warned of the danger of violent Salafists in Tunisia. Instead, it acted with laxity and complacency. The worst is that today there are voices who find alibis for this attitude and use the excuse of promoting dialogue and consensus with the voice of its leaders, Le Temps concludes.
Travel Weekly the travel industry magazine recently published a survey saying that the majority of British travellers preferred Egypt over Tunisia which indicates that the disorder has badly damaged Tunisia's image for tourism.
A recent UN World Travel Organisation (UNTWO) conference held in January in Tunis was relatively optimistic about the Tunisian tourism industry .“Tunisia is back and ready for a solid and sustained recovery,"said Mr.Taleb Rifai Secretary General of UNTWO when he met with Tunisian Minister of Tourism Mr Elyes Fakhfakh.
Mr Fakhfakh recently said that agressive Salafist demonstrations were damaging the tourism industry's image abroad. As tourism emploies 400,000 Tunisians the Ennhada has to take a firmer stance on the Salafists.
Whilst foreign tourists were happy to support the Tunisian revolution getting caught up in extremist Al Qaeda linked demonstrations is another matter especially when they occur in the capital.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/TunisiaTourism-...