Global Arab Network | Tunisia - the world's tourist hot spot

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Tunisia - the world's tourist hot spot

Global Arab Network - - Mohamed Tamer

Monday, 11 May 2009 02:08

Tunisia has become on of the world's tourist hot spots. The island of Jerba, south of the country, was ranked as number one destination in the world by the magazine Trip Advisor and Tunisia's beaches and hotels have attracted nearly 8 million tourists.

However, beach tourism is not the only attraction the country offers, Saharan tourism, golf tourism, cultural tourism, sport tourism, and health tourism are also increasingly luring millions of holiday seekers to Tunisia.

Tourism is also one of the country's key economic sectors, whence the great attention given to it by the authorities.

Since the Change of November 7, 1987, Tourism has witnessed both a quantitative and qualitative Change. During the years of the Change, it has been given a boost for progress, as it represents one of the foundations of comprehensive development. Like many other strategic sectors, it has had considerable influence, especially in light of the constant Presidential determination to make Tunisian tourism more efficient and dynamic, and more competitive at the regional and international levels.

Propitious conditions have encouraged the creation of many tourist facilities and opened up wide prospects for Tunisian and foreign investors to launch high-return tourist projects. This has had a positive effect on employment, constantly increasing its contribution to the effort of development, in a context of great international competition.

The state's constant attention has enabled the tourist sector to hold a rather big place in the national economy. The sector makes a 6% contribution to GDP and mobilizes 5.2% of all investment. In 2007, the volume of investment in the sector rose to 213.2 million dinars. During the past ten years, it brought in, as an annual average, between 17 and 19% of the foreign currency incomings generated by the export of goods and services, and contributed by 54% to covering the deficit in the balance of trade. The sector also offers over 340,000 direct and indirect jobs, and makes a great contribution to the dynamics of regional development.

- Improving all the indicators over the period 1987-2007
- The number of nights increased from 18.5 million in 1987 to 37.3 million in 2007;
- The number of entries increased from 1,874,734 tourists in 1987 to 6,761,906 in 2007;
- The number of beds increased from 100,456 in 1987 to 235,727 in 2007;
- Income from tourism increased from 968.9 million dinars in 1987 to 3,077.3 million dinars in 2007.

* Improving the tourist environment

The loans granted to the tourist municipalities by the Fund for Protecting Tourist Areas, mainly allocated to improving and embellishing the tourist environment (facilities in the tourist routes, urban parks, seafront promenades, creating green areas, improving beaches…), and to paving sidewalks and street lighting, environmental hygiene and cleanliness, totaled 104.5 MD during the period 1993-mid 2007. Much, in fact, has been done over the past couple of decades to protect tourist sites and improve the tourist environment.

* Tourist real estate improvement

The acquisition of land for tourism continued in all the traditional areas and even in new ones. Recent effort has more particularly focused on Saharan areas, the north-west and Mahdia.

Recently, the Yasmine-Hammamet tourist complex was developed. Similarly, many companies have been set up with the participation of development banks and the Tourist Real Estate Agency in order to develop a host of tourist areas and increase private investors' interest in them. Over the periods of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Plans (from 1987 to 2006), the Tourist Real Estate Agency spent about 85 million dinars, all around the country.

Balneology : A revived dynamism

The balneology sector, with its twin elements of balneotherapy and bottled mineral water, is a sector that is extremely important in economic, social and health terms, both because of its preventive, remedial, and pleasurable aspect, and because of its frontline role in supporting regional development and enriching the national tourist product.

Since the Change, the sector has been promoted, thanks to the various Presidential measures that have made of it one of the pillars of the national economy.

Public and private investment in the balneology sector over the past two decades has rounded off the economic integration of balneotherapy resources and potential at the national and regional levels, and created new centres of influence with effects on many other sectors, especially employment.

Since 1995, the state has striven to restructure the sector through a new redistribution of roles between the administration and the private sector. The private sector has been put in charge of exploitation, management and investment, while the National Balneology Office has the function of supervision and control.
The many steps and measures taken to develop the sector and modernize its services have given rise to a big qualitative and quantitative change. They have put it on the right path, giving the needed boost to its development. This has produced, for instance, the following achievements:

- building the first spa to be completely funded by private investment (in Jerba), with costs amounting to 14 million dinars. There are now four such spas in the country
- developing and enlarging the Hammam Bourguiba spa, at a cost of 40 million dinars
- developing and renovating the Jebel Oust spa, for an investment of 3 million dinars
- creating a balneotherapy centre in Sfax.

These achievements have given appreciable results. One could mention the growth in the number of people asking for treatment at a spa (3 million visitors per year), the clear confirmation of the profitability of investing in this field, and the channelling of private investment in building other spas in other parts of the country.

Tunisia is currently the second destination in the world for thalasso therapy.

As regards bottled mineral water, the progress is equally obvious. There were five bottling units in 1987; in 2007 there were sixteen. Total national consumption went up from 54 million litres in 1987 to 457 million litres in 2007. Annual average consumption per head is now 45 litres, compared to only 7 litres in 1987.

MEDITERRANEAN COAST

Visitors sunbathe, dive, sail, and fish along the vast stretches of glistening, white sandy Mediterranean beaches covering a 810- mile coast. Beach resorts include Tabarka, Hammamet, Sousse and Jerba.

El-Kantaoui's 27-hole golf course and Andalusian style marina is a fully-integrated tourism complex.Tunisia's Saharan tourism attractions includes an international golf course situated under Tozeur's lush palm groves as well as many desert festivals.

The perched village of Sidi Bou Said offers a unique scenery of domes, arched doors and balconies in blue and white set against a sparkling sea.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Punic and Roman archaeological sites can be visited in Carthage and other historical areas around the country. They include second century Roman temple in Dougga, the Phoenician port of Utica, Sbeitla's Roman temples and arches, Bulla Regia's Roman villas and El Jem's Coliseum, which is second only to Rome. The Bardo Museum, near Tunis, boasts the largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world.

ARCHITECTURE

Masterpieces of Arab-Islamic architecture attract the attention of visitors. Among them: the Great Mosque of Kairouan, the Moslem World's fourth holiest city, and the Great Mosque of Ezzitouna, at the center of the old city (the Medina) of Tunis.

Global Arab Network

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