Tunisia Enhances Security To Win Back Tourists

Tunisia has seen tourism numbers drop after a gunman killed dozens of tourists at a beach resort in June, but hopes increased security at hotels, airports and museums can start to restore some confidence in the country.

"We are scared Tunisia will disappear off the tourist map," Abdellatif Hamam, the director general of the Tunisian Tourist Office said at a tourism conference in Germany.

"The top priority for the next years will be safety, safety, safety. We cannot afford any more incidents that (target) the tourism sector," he added.

The country, which relied on tourism for around seven percent of its gross domestic product, is under a state of emergency after two Islamist militant attacks on tourist sites.

Thirty-eight people were killed by the gunman at a hotel in Sousse on the Mediterranean Coast in June, just three months after 21 tourists were killed in the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.

Hamam said Tunisia had been slow to halt the gunman in Sousse and that the country was now learning from security forces from Germany, France, Britain and Italy.

He said more spot checks were being carried out at hotels, both by Tunisian authorities and the hotel companies themselves, and the government had the power to close any hotels that were not complying with new tougher security provisions.

He added that Tunisia was also providing German partners with weekly updates on security.

Britain is still advising tourists against travel to the country after 30 of its citizens were killed in the Sousse attack.

Tour operators TUI and Thomas Cook have halted travel to Tunisia from Britain until next year due to the government advice, while tour operators across Europe have shifted capacity to other destinations.

Hamam said visitor numbers from Germany were down around 40 percent this year so far, while arrivals from Britain, which had risen 35 percent before the Sousse attack, were now down around 80-90 percent this year.

Insurance companies unwilling to provide cover were partly behind the British travel ban remaining in force, so Tunisia may look into setting up its own insurance scheme to help bring tourists back, Hamam said.

A group of Britons has started legal action against Thomson, part of TUI, over the Sousse attack, claiming that the operator failed to provide adequate security at its hotel.