Cruise Liners Return to Tunis in 2012

MSC Splendida

Yesterday, the MSC Splendida docked at the port of La Goulette: the first of around 200 scheduled visits from cruise liners before the season ends in November. More than 3,000 tourists from countries as far afield as England, Spain, Italy, China and Thailand spent the day visiting Tunis and the northern suburbs of Carthage and Sidi Bou Said.

In 2012, more than 300,000 tourists are expected to enter Tunisia from cruise ships, according to the National Office of Tunisian Tourism.

This is a marked improvement from 2011 levels when the number of visitors arriving from cruises decreased by more than 60%, due to insecurity issues following the “Jasmine Revolution.” However, 2012 projections are still down from 2010 when around 900,000 tourists visited Tunis via the port of La Goulette.

Salim Ben Jaballah, the owner of Hope Travel, an agency that specializes in organizing day trips for tourists arriving on cruises, confirmed that the industry was rebounding. However, he said that a return to pre-revolution levels ”depends on the stability of the country,” which will in turn create confidence in Tunis as a safe and attractive destination.

Locals working in the tourism industry are also hopeful for a better season in 2012. Cruise tourism contributes to the trade of handicrafts in areas such as the medina in downtown Tunis and Sidi Bou Said in the northern suburbs of the capital. Furthermore, it employs numbers of tour guides, drivers, and others, who coordinate together to organize group visits to archaeological sites and museums.

Kais Elhabib has been a professional tour guide in Tunis for over 25 years, running tours in English and Italian for tourists arriving on cruise liners. He said that 2011 was a difficult year for his industry. “The cruise season in the Mediterranean begins in March but no cruise liners came before July,” he said. During these months, Elhabib worked at best one day per week and struggled to make ends meet. He expressed confidence that this year “will be much better than last year and even better than some previous years.”

According to Elhabib, cruise ships usually dock at La Goulette for less than 12 hours, giving visitors limited time to visit the city. “Typically tourists have two choices, either Carthage and Sidi Bou Said or Carthage and the Medina. Tours have major time constraints. We can’t add more time to any visits,” he said.