Tourism providers around the world have always faced unique challenges. To attract and retain business, their clients must not only be highly drawn to their offerings, but have the transportation, accommodation, and logistics support to access their destination.

To convince travelers to make the journey to a destination, industry providers must offer high-quality, multifaceted, and accessible tourism services and experiences, carefully marketed to target audiences, that display the very best of their destination. This is no different in Tunisia, whose tourism industry has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand Tunisia’s tourism climate and receive input from industry professionals, the USAID Visit Tunisia Activity conducted eight workshops in Tabarka, Kairouan, Tozeur, Douz, Tatouine, Djerba, Sousse, and Tunis. The full-day activities brought more than 440 tourism stakeholders, including local government and administration officials, transport and travel agency representatives, local entrepreneurs, supporting NGOs, tour guides, guest house owners, hoteliers, international donors, media professionals, handicraft workers and investors, together to discuss tourism challenges and the industry’s potential for growth.

During the workshops, Visit Tunisia’s team assessed the status of tourism in each region, identifying which tourism products are neglected, underused, or have strong development potential. We also learned about tourism providers’ COVID-19-related setbacks and the support they need, including financial and organizational, to overcome the crisis and grow.

Working hand in hand with local tourism professionals, we also explored potential tourism products and circuits to develop, and began identifying potential target markets for their promotion. Our collaboration led tourism providers to reimagine tourism strategies and begin crafting new, creative methods to present and offer their tourism products and experiences.

These events marked the beginning of a new collaboration between Visit Tunisia and regional tourism professionals. There is a renewed hope for strengthened partnerships and new alliances in the sector, ready to prioritize new promotional and development strategies to take the industry to the next level.