Tunisia: Boosting Italian tourist market

A promotional event targeting the Italian tourist market was held Saturday in Sousse by travel group “Sprintours,” in association with the Tunisian National Tourism Board (ONTT) and national flag carrier Tunisair.
Nearly 300 travel agents took part in this action, in the presence of many Tunisian and Italian journalists.
ONTT representative in Italy Mustapha Nasri stressed, at a news briefing, that the flow of Italian tourists to Tunisia is expected to grow in 2010 after a 13% decrease in the past year as a result of the global financial crisis.
The representative of ONTT underlined that the “Enfidha Zine El Abidine Ben Ali” international airport located between two tourist poles (Cap Bon and Middle of the country) could contribute to increasing the tourist flow to Tunisia, adding that a new approach is planned to increase the Milan-Zarzis traffic.
 Nasri highlighted efforts made by ONTT to diversify the tourist product by relying on seaside, saharan, sports, cultural and thalassotherapy tourism and encouraging, in particular, Italian tourists to visit the cities of Sousse, Mahdia and Hammamet as well as Tozeur and Tabarka.
After the confirmation of bookings, “Sprintours” travel group CEO Jalel Jebara underlined, the situation of the tourism market will improve this year following the fall registered last year.