Terror in Tunisia deals fresh blow to tourism

Tunisia recently sustained a new blow to its economy with the Bardo museum attack. Many in the tourism industry are now waiting to see how many travellers will show up, Eileen Byrne reports

A visitor walks below the walls of the 13th-century Kasbah, or fort, in the Tunisian resort of Hammamet. Elizabeth Young for The National

HAMMAMET, TUNISIA // Sitting in the cafe of the Paradis Palace hotel with her five-year-old grandson, Ann Jones said she had been happy to go ahead with the family’s Mediterranean beach break despite the March 18 attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis.

“I did see something on Facebook about it before we left, but these kind of things can happen anywhere,” said Mrs Jones.

“We British don’t give in to terrorism,” her husband, a London bus mechanic, chipped in. He declined to give his name.

However, not all tourists were so optimistic about the possible risks of a holiday in Tunisia.

The tourism ministry reported more than 3,000 holidays cancellations following the Bardo attack.

Since the attack, reservations have tumbled 60 per cent. Seven cruise lines have dropped Tunis from their itineraries, and some charter airlines flying in Russian, Czech and Polish tourists have already cancelled flights, tourism sector sources report.

The moment of truth will come in mid-April when summer bookings open, said Fradj Belhadj, marketing manager at Hammamet’s Nesrine Hotel.

“Last year, we were getting back to normal levels of occupancy” after the 2011 revolution, he said.

Before the Bardo attack, growth had looked set to continue this year.

But the impact of the assault means “we are now looking to 2016” for confirmation that the sector is really back on its feet, Mr Belhadj said.

As a labour-intensive industry in a country badly in need of jobs for its youth, tourism is a central part of Tunisia’s still fragile economic recovery.

Last year, visitor numbers topped 6 million – 12 per cent lower than in 2010, before the revolution that overthrew president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Although many tourism jobs are seasonal and low-paid, the sector sustains hundreds of thousands of Tunisian families.

In 2010, the tourism industry represented 17 per cent of GDP, according to the World Bank.

The two kalashnikov-wielding gunmen at the Bardo museum were targeting tourism in the hope of undermining Tunisia’s economy and its transition to democracy, said prime minister Habib Essid.

Mr Essid called the assault “a cowardly attack” and said “the terrorists have changed strategy to target tourists, with the goal of inflicting a heavy blow on our economy, which is still taking time to get going again” after the revolution.

The men, eventually shot dead by police, had chosen to attack on a day that the museum was packed with visitors bussed in from two cruise ships operated by Costa Cruises and MSC.

With nine nationalities among the 21 victims, along with one Tunisian policeman, the attack dominated headlines worldwide. Authorities say the gunmen were members of a small Algerian-led militant group based in the country’s western mountains. ISIL-linked social media accounts also claimed responsibility.

The attack came as successive tourism ministers spoke of the need for fresh ideas – especially after the 2011 revolution – to help the sector diversify away from the classic beach holiday and stay globally competitive.

The World Bank has warned that heavy borrowing by some hotel owners during the Ben Ali era is now straining the banking system.

Among the Europeans, French tourists are still the leading national contingent. Before the revolution, as many as 1.4 million visited Tunisia each year.

However, the French have proved more reluctant than most to return to Tunisia since 2011, according to official figures from the tourism ministry. Last year only 720,000 French holidaymakers visited, tourism minister Selma Rekik Elloumi said last week.

The January attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris added to their security concerns.

The only previous such attack in Tunisia was when a suicide bomber killed 19 people, most of them German tourists, outside a historic synagogue on the southern island of Djerba in 2002.

Tourism earnings fell by a fifth that year, but climbed back within three years, the Economist Intelligence Unit reported.

In October 2013, another young man blew himself up on a beach at Sousse, not far from the beach where European holidaymakers were sunbathing. No one else was injured.

Mr Essid acknowledged last week that security had been lax at the Bardo site.

After firing the Tunis chief of police on March 23, he said the private sector as well as the public sector needed to improve security.

In the restaurants of Hammamet’s tourist zone this Easter week, waiters sat chatting on the terraces among largely empty tables.

The mood was likewise gloomy on the ‘pirate ship’ Columbus, moored nearby.

Refurbished with traditional rigging, the vessel takes holidaymakers on three-hour voyages with entertainment including hornpipe dancing.

The Bardo attack brought horrific violence, previously limited to attacks by extremist groups on soldiers in the western mountains, uncomfortably close to the coastal resort, said the ship’s engineer Taher Abdellatif, 24.

To boost security, the ship has been equipped with security cameras and all guests will have their bags searched, he said.

“In this line of work, we need to be in a positive mood. We need to feel that things are getting better after the revolution. That is difficult right now.”