TUNIS, January 30, 2012 (AFP)
TUNIS, January 30, 2012 (AFP)
Dozens of tour agencies in Tunisia will have to wind up soon if the government does not provide immediate aid, the head of the Tunisian Federation of Travel and Tour Agencies (FTAV) warned Monday.
Tourism dropped off sharply during the Tunisian revolution of December 2010 and January 2011, which saw the ouster of long-time dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, and has not picked up since despite a peaceful transition to elected leadership and a constituent assembly.
“Dozens of agencies could be forced to stop operating in coming days unless urgent solutions are rapidly found to their difficulties,” Mohamed Ali Toumi told journalists.
Some 700 tour agencies that “constitute the most important link in the chain of tourism” are in “a catastrophic situation”, threatening about 8,000 jobs in the immediate to longer term, Toumi said.
The FTAV first asked the government to intervene to help the sector, which is traditionally a mainstay of the economy in the north African country, on February 7 last year, but Toumi said there had been no response.
The FTAV has asked for indirect financial assistance for the profession by measures such as cuts in taxes and an easing of bureaucratic procedures, as well as suggesting that tour operators be allowed to handle annual pilgrimages to Mecca, which are currently in the hands of a state body.
Imed Trabelsi, the nephew of Ben Ali’s unpopular wife Leila, and a former religious affairs minister have been convicted of corruption in organizing the hajj voyages.
The federation also called for an immediate campaign to clean up tourist
destinations.
“Our requests still remain without a response and if the government continues to neglect us by next February 15, we will act,” Toumi warned, without giving details of what action was planned.
