About 600 tourism professionals have confirmed their participation in the 11th annual congress of the “Selectour” group, to be held from December 2 to 5, 2021 in Hammamet, president of Selectour network, Laurent Abitbol said at a press conference Tuesday in Hammamet.
The organisation of the congress of the first network of travel agencies in France Selectour confirms the confidence in the tourist destination, the official told TAP, adding that the French like to enjoy the beach, the sun and the Tunisian cuisine ….
He said the 11th Congress of Selectour is of great importance to its members, as it will examine the preparations of the group for the post-COVID-19 period, in addition to new methods of dealing with health problems, promotion and sales of tourist destinations, he added.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the network will seek to define its future strategies for the next 50 years, which are based on resuming work and upgrading the network globally to enable it to become one of the largest resellers in the world, not just in France.
Abitbol pointed out that Tunisia is one of the favorite destinations of French tourists, adding that the success of the tourist season and the continued influx of French tourists require a strong national carrier to facilitate the transport of tourists and ensure significant financial returns.
He also emphasised the need for state intervention to help national carrier Tunisair in the acquisition of new aircraft, especially since investments in air transport allow significant foreign exchange inflows.
“Invest in air transport and we will bring tourists to Tunisia,” said Abitbol.
The president of Selectour said he was confident of achieving an exceptional tourist season during the summer of 2022, adding that the possible negative impact of COVID-19 and the emergence of the new mutant “Omicron”, is a global problem that does not concern only Tunisia.
He added that the progress of vaccinations in Europe and Tunisia gives hope to all tourism and travel professionals in tourism and travel to the tourist destination Tunisia.
Regarding the new “Omicron” mutant and the fifth wave of COVID-19, he noted, “We don’t know much about this new mutant, its impact and the health measures it will require.”
“We have to wait and not be pessimistic and at the same time continue working and travelling,” he added.
He noted that Europe has decided not to close its borders, unlike some countries that have taken the decision to close the borders out of fear.
Despite a decline in bookings in recent days, he said this is only a cyclical issue and not structural and that the pace of bookings will return to increase within a week.
For his part, central director of promotion at the Tunisian National Tourist Office (ONTT), Lotfi Mani said the organisation of this conference in Hammamet is a message of optimism for all tourism operators.
He expressed hope to see a recovery during the next tourist season, especially in view of the increase in the number of bookings, concurrently with the progress of vaccinations in Tunisia and Europe.
He stressed that Tunisia has also taken the necessary preventive health measures at air, sea and land borders.
The French network “Selectour” has about 548 members representing 1147 travel agencies in France that provide about 5,000 jobs.
The network was strengthened three years ago with the accession of the group “Aves Travels”, bringing its turnover to 6 billion euros, about 19.5 billion dinars and its transactions with Air France to 940 million euros
