Tunisia’s tourism revenue climbs 44 per cent

Tourism revenue in Tunisia jumped 44 per cent to 3.16bn dinars year-on-year to August 10, official figures showed on Monday.

Major European tour operators started to return to Tunisia last year, after three years of shunning the North African country following militant attacks targeting tourists.

Tourism, a key source of foreign currency, accounts for 8 per cent of Tunisia’s gross domestic product.

The central bank said revenue last year during the same period was 2.19bn Tunisian dinars ($762m).

Tourism Minister Rene Trabelsi said Tunisia expects tourist arrivals to reach 9 million for the first time in 2019 with major promotional campaigns to bring back tourists from traditional markets such as France, Britain and Germany.

Last year, Tunisia received 8.3 million tourists.

A return of Europeans visitors would give a strong boost to the struggling economy and raise weak foreign currency reserves.

In 2015, a gun attack at a beach resort in Sousse killed 39 tourists and an attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis killed 21. Islamic State said it carried out the attacks.