Interest in summer holidays to Tunisia is substantially up on a year ago despite a political assassination, strikes and demonstrations at the start of February, Travelweekly reported Thursday.
Industry analyst GfK reported trade bookings for this summer to Tunisia up 18.5% to mid-February, in a market that is 1.6% down overall.
The figures are for total bookings – package holidays, flights and accommodation.
Despite the unrest, the Tunisian National Tourism Office (TNTO) reported a 6% year-on-year rise in UK arrivals in January and GfK tipped Tunisia to be a “top five growth destination” for visitor numbers this summer. That followed a return of UK visitors last year which took Tunisia to within 6% of its best-ever year from Britain in 2010.
TNTO UK director Wahida Jaiet said: “Recent events may have affected the trend. There was a small drop in bookings for a week. One group of students cancelled on the eve of a general strike. But none of our major UK business partners registered a drop. There is some uncertainty, but bookings are positive.”
