Chinese market to revive Tunisian tourism

Nearly 12,000 Chinese tourists have visited Tunisia between January and May 2018, registering a growth of 56.8 per cent year on year, according to the statistics of Tunisian Ministry of Tourism.

With a history of over 3,000 years, Tunisia, lying at the north point of the African continent, is renowned for its rich tourism resources. From 2017 February onwards Tunisia has decided to give visa-free entry to Chinese tourists for stay of no more than 90 days in the country. Since then, China has become one of Tunisia’s fastest-growing markets, with tourist arrivals rising to 18,000 in 2017, compared to the 7,400 arrivals in 2016.

Tunisia also welcomed the first Chinese chartered-flight tourist group in February this year. “Chinese tourist market would be a significant factor to revive Tunisian tourism industry,” said Tunisian Minister of Tourism Salma Elloumi. According to Amouar Chetoui, deputy representative in Beijing Bureau of Tunisian National Tourism Office, Chinese tourists in Tunisia is expected to reach 50,000 by the year 2020.

Tunisia was hit by three major terrorist attacks in 2015, which claimed the lives of more than 70 people, mostly foreign tourists and security forces. Since then, the tourism of the country has been down until recently. The currency exchange between Chinese yuan and Tunisian dinar will officially be put into effect in Tunisia in the coming months and the payment with UnionPay would also be possible, said Xinhua.

With the introduction of tighter security measures and return of visitors’ confidence in security situation, the North African country received more than seven million tourists from all over the world last year, a year-on-year growth of over 20 per cent.