Visit Tunisia continued to support the National Tourism Office (ONTT) and the Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts (MOTH) to develop an inclusive National Tourism Strategy (NTS) that will grow and diversify the sector.

Following a successful NTS kickoff event on March 28 under the patronage of Tunisia’s prime minister, Visit Tunisia helped organize and prepare for regional consultation workshops to draw input from regional tourism actors. The workshops, scheduled for May 12-23 in Djerba, Gabes, Sousse, Kasserine, Tozeur, and Tabarka, are helping to outline the strategy’s implementation process, including its budget and monitoring mechanisms, flesh out its strategic objectives, and designate stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities.

The project helped put on the first of these workshops in Djerba on May 12, attended by 52 tourism representatives, including former Tunisian Tourism Minister Rene Trabelsi.

Trabelsi, a native of Tunisia’s southern island of Djerba who has been instrumental in promoting tourism to the region, delivered a message of hope and innovation for the sector.

“There's always a recovery after any crisis and we must seize the opportunity to recover the 2022 season and the years after,” Trabelsi said at the meeting. “Tunisia is very rich in everything and has all the tourism components that travelers are seeking.... I'm optimistic that we will soon be able to turn the corner.”

“The message that I want to give is that we need to continue to work, think and invent,” he added.

Additional NTS workshops were held in Gabes on May 13, Sousse on May 16, and Sbeitla on May 17. The last workshops will take place in Tozeur on May 20 and Tabarka on May 23.

Based on stakeholder’s feedback, the MOTH plans to finalize and publicly share the strategy by September 27. The new strategy is expected to significantly increase tourism arrivals and expenditure this year.