TUNISIA Why tourists shun the country they jasmine?

Climate, high rate of sunshine, eight registered in UNESCO heritage sites and yet tourism has declined sharply in Tunisia. Cyclical or structural failure gloom? How to turn the corner?

If the Tunisian tourism is now in poverty, this is largely because we practice tourism misery! "Deplores La Presse. Such a crisis is not cyclical and is rather a structural failure, adds the Tunisian newspaper denouncing a low-end tourism, set up to "deal with the sluggish economy" while the downgrade is "structural, and its effects are part of the long term."

"A force to pull the sector down by dint of selling prices, to force submit to the diktat of TO [tour operators] and consent, by dint of seeing the all inclusive [all inclusive] a lifeline, where rather should be seen as a burden, the Tunisian tourism professionals have not only lowered and moved into beggars. They have not only impoverished and even more engulfed in the sea of unpaid and credits attached ... they mostly downgraded Tunisia. "

For the French-language daily, Tunisia, once a pioneer in the field of tourism in the region, now looks a "cheap" destination with all that that carries such connotations and prejudices. Without adequate policy, this pillar sector of the economy will continue to sink into a muddy rut warns La Presse for professionals in the field who are unwittingly, the architects of their own downfall. Turning the Corner, he believes, will not be "easy".

This observation is increasingly shared by industry professionals, reports The Times. Indeed, Bouslama Habib, vice-president of the Tunisian Federation of hotels, paints an alarming finding of a sector that is in "free fall" for several months, while Abdelkader Khelil, president of the Tunisian Federation of Travel Agencies Cap Bon, points to the external environment that marginalizes other hoteliers and travel agents subject, he said, the "dictates of the giants of international tourism."

However, the paper recalls the highly structural nature of the crisis in lamenting the inability of Tunisia to follow the "international assignments", which led him to be overtaken by Morocco and Turkey on the Mediterranean scene. He added that the predominance of seaside activity reflects the crystallization of an industry that insists on keeping the status quo in a changing world.

For its part, the Algerian daily Liberté regrets plummeting Tunisian tourism due, he said, the unrest in the country since the overthrow of Ben Ali in January 2011 "Tunisia is on the brink of bankruptcy due political instability in the country. He also instability are the building blocks of the national eco

nomy, especially tourism. sector rose by 1.4% compared to 2012, and July 31 last country hosted nearly 4 million tourists. Reaching 7 million tourists by the end of the year, according to the objectives remains utopian. "The newspaper said the situation is more catastrophic than it looks, the Tunisian authorities did not hesitate to "inflate the numbers" to dramatize things.

Freedom notes that the Algerians have suffered the consequences of the Tunisian crisis. "Many, especially young people who daily cross the border post, do not spend their holidays in Tunisia. They now prefer other destinations in Tunisia is such a transit country. Their destinations are Italy, Turkey and the Morocco. reason? simply companies these three countries offer attractive and competitive from Tunisia rates. "