Global Arab Network | Tunisia - Top tourist destinations in 2010

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Tunisia - Top tourist destinations in 2010

Global Arab Network - - George Haddad

Wednesday, 06 January 2010 18:12

Tunisia was classified as one of top tourist destinations in 2010, by the American travel site "Frommer's." reported by (TAP) Tunisian News Agency.

This ranking was the result of an opinion survey conducted among 1,200 persons who were asked to select their best destinations out of a list comprising a total of 3,500. Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates are the only two Arab countries on this list which includes several European, Asian and Latin-American cities and capitals.

The Frommer's site considers Tunisia, particularly the areas around the capital Tunis, as a microcosm of North Africa's charms; Islamic culture mixed with Mediterranean spirit and beauty, modern colonial remnants and ancient Roman vestiges.

It adds that Tunis has a sprawling and bustling Medina, and colonial remnants of wide boulevards and straight lanes, inherited from France.

Frommer's is a collection of very popular travel guides authoritative in the US. They are distributed in 25 countries and cover 3,000 destinations.

Tunisia'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. (TAP)

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