Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
90
national security, namely the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defence and those of
the tourism sector.
 Diplomatic efforts have stressed that tourism security measures are being implemented
to secure tourists’ safety while visiting the country, including inviting foreign
ambassadors in Tunis by the government to be updated about the situation.
Other actions taken to help the tourism sector minimize its losses and recover from the crises
are:
 An appeal to Tunisian citizens from within the country or living in foreign countries to
take holidays in Tunisia. This has increased hotel nights taken by domestic tourists to
almost 5 million nights, while the number of Tunisians coming fromoverseas for holiday
in Tunisia was nearly one million (Zouaoui, pers. comm., 2017). Several hoteliers have
offered package deals for domestic travellers in order to attract Tunisians to spend their
holidays in Tunisia.
 To encourage regional tourism, the Ministry of Tourism is planning to improve the
border infrastructure with neighbouring countries in order to make crossing easier and
more comfortable in the expectation of attracting more visitors to drive to Tunisia from
neighbouring countries, namely Algeria and Libya. However, the average length of stay
per visitor to Tunisia has dropped from 6.6 nights to 4.7 nights, which is partly due to
the changed reliance on the regional market. The authorities are working on diversifying
the visitor's itineraries so that a combination of attractions in proximity with beach
resorts can be visited.
 A new promotion and marketing policy aimed at enhancing the image of the destination
and repositioning it on an international scale, including:
a. Live footage showing peaceful scenes from Sidi Bu Said, Hammamet and the desert
oasis of Touzer screened simultaneously on graphic panels in several source
countries - London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Milan - as part of an attempt to send
a message that Tunisia is safe to be visited (Wismayer, 2016).
b. Bloggers and travel enthusiasts were invited to visit tourism attractions in Tunisia
with an agreement to post video clips on YouTube expressing their own experience
as a means of marketing through social media.
 In order to ease access formore visitors to visit Tunisia, the government abolished entry
visas for citizens from several African and Gulf state countries.
 The government took steps to assist hoteliers who had trouble paying their debts by
rescheduling their payments, or offering government-backed loans to finance activities
through 2016. Value-added tax may be brought down as well. The government has also
initiated an upgrade program to improve the hotel sector competitiveness and
profitability and to stimulate growth in terms of foreign currency earnings.
 The government is planning on full implementation of "open skies”agreement with EU
by the end of 2017 (Zouaoui, pers. comm., 2017).