Tunisia Tourism Industry: Arrivals jump 18% in first 4 months of 2019

World
Europe

02:43

Tourism is on the rise in Tunisia. The North African country recorded an 18% increase in arrivals during the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of foreign tourists since January was over 2 million, with revenues reaching roughly 330-million US dollars. CGTN's Adnen Chaouachi has more.

The Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts is aiming to attract 9 million tourists this season. Analysts say the progress indicators recorded each month range from 25% to 30% for all markets, especially for the Russian and Chinese markets.

MOEZ KACEM TOURISM EXPERT "This Russian market has continued to grow and could exceed the target of 750,000 tourists. The Chinese market has tripled this year and the Ministry of Tourism announced a plan to attract 100,000 Chinese visitors."

Regarding the pilgrimage to El Ghriba, Djerba, authorities stressed that all the preparations are underway, in terms of the organisation and security of this event that will take place on May 22nd and 23rd.

LASSAD DANDANI TUNISIAN NATIONAL HERITAGE INSTITUTE "It is the annual gathering of Jews from the while world in Tunisia. It is a great religious and tourism event. The success of this International Jewish Pilgrimage guarantees the success of the whole tourist season."

The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization UNWTO expressed his full support to the Tunisian authorities in achieving their objective of increasing the number of tourists in 2019.

ZURAB POLOLIKASHVILI, SECRETARY GENERAL UN WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION "We are glad to see that the numbers are increasing and Tunisia is one of the best examples and one of the fastest growing countries on the continent."

The Maghreb markets, which represent 44% of tourist arrivals to date, have seen an increasing pace, since Tunisia received, during the first quarter of 2019, about 496 thousand Algerian tourists and 473 thousand Libyans.

ADNEN CHAOUACHI TUNIS "Many countries lifted travel restrictions on Tunisia or regions of Tunisia, the latest was Spain, this week and Japan in March 2019. Authorities in these countries had banned trips to the Tunisian destination following a wave of terror attacks on the Prado Museum and a beach resort in the city of Sousse. AC. CGTN. T."