Tourism hit hard by Arab revolutions
17 October 2011
Read by 3023 persons
Since January 2011, Tunisia and its "tourist factories" have suffered a lot. Despite an improvement since July, a real recovery will depend on the outcome of the October 23 election.
"For All Saints' Day, bookings are quite good. And summer 2012 looks promising." A little anxious, Ali Ben Zaied, sales manager of the travel agency created by his father Mohamed in Nouaiel, "the last village before the desert", in southern Tunisia, came to Paris in September to meet professionals at the TOP Resa tourism fair. This 29-year-old was eager to know if the tourism sector, hampered in Tunisia but also in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries by the "Arab revolutions", would regain its colors. He left a little reassured.
For Tunisia, the stakes are high. Take Djerba. This island, connected to the African continent by a road dating from the Roman Empire, is a real tourist factory. According to Mohamed Essayem, regional tourism commissioner, Djerba and Zarzis (the nearest coastal town to the island) had welcomed, in 2010, 24% of the 7 million foreign tourists who came to Tunisia. Of course, not all of them spent their entire stay there because Djerba is "a platform that dispatches vacationers to the south." Nevertheless, in Djerba and Zarzis, tourism creates 20,000 direct jobs and 60,000 indirect jobs (guides, merchants, etc.) for a population of 300,000 inhabitants! Elsewhere in Tunisia, the dependence is less, especially in the south where hotel complexes are less important and less numerous.
It is true that the clients are not the same: consumers of cheap sunshine in Djerba, lovers of authentic, solidarity-based tourism and hiking in the south. Nevertheless, in 2010, tourism accounted for 7% of Tunisian GDP and provided 400,000 jobs, one in ten Tunisians drawing their income from it. For this sector, a provider of foreign currency, the "Jasmine Revolution" was a calamity: at the height of the events, tour operators repatriated the groups present on site, then cancellations multiplied and hotels emptied. Until March, they were almost deserted (some even closed for a few weeks), bookings having fallen by an average of 65%. "We thought it would pick up very quickly, as soon as things calmed down," recalls Mohamed Essayem. Except that... "the rebellion in nearby Libya broke the recovery." The man is bitter: "Tunisia generously welcomed 500,000 Libyan refugees, most of whom have now left. This does not deserve to be sanctioned."
"Tour operators revised their flight plans or revised their prices, seizing the opportunity to reduce contracts to a minimum," regrets the tourism commissioner of Djerba and Zarzis. Did European professionals abandon their Tunisian partners? "That's the case!" asserts Mohamed Essayem. In France, however, it seems that some tour operators did their best to promote Tunisia, going so far as to offer discounted prices in July (€350 for the first week, all inclusive, the second for €1. Or, at the last minute, €95 a week). Are tour operators profiteers? "They are merchants," retorts Mohamed Essayem. And he confirms that local hoteliers had to lower their prices.
How to resist? It was necessary to attract customers, fill hotels, preserve Tunisia's image, show those who came that the country was calm (these "ambassadors" would bring other vacationers). It was also necessary to limit unemployment. "The administration and the hotel federation agreed not to leave people without work or income, by instituting a system of rotation," specifies Mohamed Essayem. "While we didn't have any clients, we kept our staff but paid them half-time," confirms Ali Ben Zaied.
However, denounces Khaled Nafti, owner of Dar El-Bhar, a delightful charming hotel in Djerba, Tunisian professionals are totally dependent on their foreign sponsors. "When we talk about an all-inclusive price, it means that local service providers are included," he ironically remarks. And then, he regrets, "until the revolution, the Tunisian sky was not open." And explains that the main charter flight company was in the hands of the Trabelsi clan (the in-laws of Ben Ali, the deposed dictator). For those who did not go through a tour operator linked to this clan, the price of a flight from France to Tunisia was exorbitant, hindering the expansion of independent hoteliers like him.
The year was therefore a harsh one, even if tourists returned in July. According to official figures, the number of visitors fell by 35.5% in the first nine months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. Foreign currency earnings fell by 39.4%. Hotels suffered, but so did souvenir and craft merchants and guides. Almost all the merchants in the Djerba souk saw their turnover fall by 30 to 50%. Their concern is therefore justified.
"The real start of the next season is March 2012. In my opinion, tourism will really take off after the elections, if all goes well," says Erica, an Italian who runs a shop in Djerba. A widely shared opinion. It is generally believed that if Islamists emerge strongly from the polls on October 23, tourists' distrust could persist. "I've asked a lot of people, they don't want that," reassures Ali Ben Zaied. Reality or wishful thinking? Yasmina, who sells chic souvenirs in Djerba, expresses her perplexity because, she says, "beyond the current fog, I sense the people are a little agitated, young and old can be seduced by the Islamists."
Mohamed Essayem, for his part, cultivates his "optimism." "The opening of the skies (the liberalization of air transport, editor's note), which is highly anticipated, will take place in November, for the benefit of all," he assures. And he announces a "new plan to promote Tunisia in Europe" and also "a government plan to develop hotel units." Shouldn't Tunisia's tourism policy be rethought, targeting new customers, responding to new needs? "In Djerba, we are trying to upgrade." He emphasizes the diversification undertaken: charming hotels, guest houses, rural cottages, and also "well-being" and "ecological tourism closer to nature", for which "demand is strong given today's stressful life." And he mentions the 20 thalassotherapy centers and golf courses in Djerba.
Far from the "tourist factories" of Djerba, Ali Ben Zaied will continue, in the footsteps of his father, to promote tourism that combines hiking, contact with the population, stays with locals or in guesthouses at the gates of the desert. An offer that could indeed restore the image of a Tunisia that is beginning to suffer from its image as a cheap sunshine factory among a European clientele increasingly concerned with authenticity and quality.
Paula BOYER
Lacroix.com
Published October 16, 2011.
Posted online October 17, 2011.
"For All Saints' Day, bookings are quite good. And summer 2012 looks promising." A little anxious, Ali Ben Zaied, sales manager of the travel agency created by his father Mohamed in Nouaiel, "the last village before the desert", in southern Tunisia, came to Paris in September to meet professionals at the TOP Resa tourism fair. This 29-year-old was eager to know if the tourism sector, hampered in Tunisia but also in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries by the "Arab revolutions", would regain its colors. He left a little reassured.
For Tunisia, the stakes are high. Take Djerba. This island, connected to the African continent by a road dating from the Roman Empire, is a real tourist factory. According to Mohamed Essayem, regional tourism commissioner, Djerba and Zarzis (the nearest coastal town to the island) had welcomed, in 2010, 24% of the 7 million foreign tourists who came to Tunisia. Of course, not all of them spent their entire stay there because Djerba is "a platform that dispatches vacationers to the south." Nevertheless, in Djerba and Zarzis, tourism creates 20,000 direct jobs and 60,000 indirect jobs (guides, merchants, etc.) for a population of 300,000 inhabitants! Elsewhere in Tunisia, the dependence is less, especially in the south where hotel complexes are less important and less numerous.
It is true that the clients are not the same: consumers of cheap sunshine in Djerba, lovers of authentic, solidarity-based tourism and hiking in the south. Nevertheless, in 2010, tourism accounted for 7% of Tunisian GDP and provided 400,000 jobs, one in ten Tunisians drawing their income from it. For this sector, a provider of foreign currency, the "Jasmine Revolution" was a calamity: at the height of the events, tour operators repatriated the groups present on site, then cancellations multiplied and hotels emptied. Until March, they were almost deserted (some even closed for a few weeks), bookings having fallen by an average of 65%. "We thought it would pick up very quickly, as soon as things calmed down," recalls Mohamed Essayem. Except that... "the rebellion in nearby Libya broke the recovery." The man is bitter: "Tunisia generously welcomed 500,000 Libyan refugees, most of whom have now left. This does not deserve to be sanctioned."
"Tour operators revised their flight plans or revised their prices, seizing the opportunity to reduce contracts to a minimum," regrets the tourism commissioner of Djerba and Zarzis. Did European professionals abandon their Tunisian partners? "That's the case!" asserts Mohamed Essayem. In France, however, it seems that some tour operators did their best to promote Tunisia, going so far as to offer discounted prices in July (€350 for the first week, all inclusive, the second for €1. Or, at the last minute, €95 a week). Are tour operators profiteers? "They are merchants," retorts Mohamed Essayem. And he confirms that local hoteliers had to lower their prices.
How to resist? It was necessary to attract customers, fill hotels, preserve Tunisia's image, show those who came that the country was calm (these "ambassadors" would bring other vacationers). It was also necessary to limit unemployment. "The administration and the hotel federation agreed not to leave people without work or income, by instituting a system of rotation," specifies Mohamed Essayem. "While we didn't have any clients, we kept our staff but paid them half-time," confirms Ali Ben Zaied.
However, denounces Khaled Nafti, owner of Dar El-Bhar, a delightful charming hotel in Djerba, Tunisian professionals are totally dependent on their foreign sponsors. "When we talk about an all-inclusive price, it means that local service providers are included," he ironically remarks. And then, he regrets, "until the revolution, the Tunisian sky was not open." And explains that the main charter flight company was in the hands of the Trabelsi clan (the in-laws of Ben Ali, the deposed dictator). For those who did not go through a tour operator linked to this clan, the price of a flight from France to Tunisia was exorbitant, hindering the expansion of independent hoteliers like him.
The year was therefore a harsh one, even if tourists returned in July. According to official figures, the number of visitors fell by 35.5% in the first nine months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. Foreign currency earnings fell by 39.4%. Hotels suffered, but so did souvenir and craft merchants and guides. Almost all the merchants in the Djerba souk saw their turnover fall by 30 to 50%. Their concern is therefore justified.
"The real start of the next season is March 2012. In my opinion, tourism will really take off after the elections, if all goes well," says Erica, an Italian who runs a shop in Djerba. A widely shared opinion. It is generally believed that if Islamists emerge strongly from the polls on October 23, tourists' distrust could persist. "I've asked a lot of people, they don't want that," reassures Ali Ben Zaied. Reality or wishful thinking? Yasmina, who sells chic souvenirs in Djerba, expresses her perplexity because, she says, "beyond the current fog, I sense the people are a little agitated, young and old can be seduced by the Islamists."
Mohamed Essayem, for his part, cultivates his "optimism." "The opening of the skies (the liberalization of air transport, editor's note), which is highly anticipated, will take place in November, for the benefit of all," he assures. And he announces a "new plan to promote Tunisia in Europe" and also "a government plan to develop hotel units." Shouldn't Tunisia's tourism policy be rethought, targeting new customers, responding to new needs? "In Djerba, we are trying to upgrade." He emphasizes the diversification undertaken: charming hotels, guest houses, rural cottages, and also "well-being" and "ecological tourism closer to nature", for which "demand is strong given today's stressful life." And he mentions the 20 thalassotherapy centers and golf courses in Djerba.
Far from the "tourist factories" of Djerba, Ali Ben Zaied will continue, in the footsteps of his father, to promote tourism that combines hiking, contact with the population, stays with locals or in guesthouses at the gates of the desert. An offer that could indeed restore the image of a Tunisia that is beginning to suffer from its image as a cheap sunshine factory among a European clientele increasingly concerned with authenticity and quality.
Paula BOYER
Lacroix.com
Published October 16, 2011.
Posted online October 17, 2011.
