Foreign Office lifts Tunisia travel ban
The Foreign Office has lifted its ban on travel to Tunisia after two years.
It said today that it was no longer advising against travel to most of the country, with the exception of parts of the south and interior and certain areas near the borders with Algeria and Libya.
It was previously advising against all but essential travel to Tunisia after 38 tourists, including 30 Britons, were gunned down at a beach resort on Sousse in a terror attack in June 2015.
The advice on the FCO website continues: "Since the terrorist attack in Sousse in June 2015, which targeted tourists, the UK government has been working closely with the Tunisian authorities to investigate the attack and the wider threat from terrorist groups. The Tunisian government has improved protective security in major cities and tourist resorts.
"But terrorists are still very likely to try to carry out attacks in Tunisia. Security forces remain on a high state of alert in Tunis and other places. You should be vigilant at all times, including around religious sites and festivals. Follow the advice of the Tunisian security authorities and your travel company if you have one."
As a result of the change in advice, Thomson and First Choice said they were looking at re-introducing Tunisia for future seasons. It said it would take into account customer demand. All the Britons killed in June 2015 in the Sousse terror attack were Thomson clients.
A spokesman for Thomas Cook said: "We’re pleased that the Foreign Office has taken this decision to open Tunisia back up to Brits. It’s great for Tunisia, which used to welcome many thousands of British holidaymakers. We’ll take a bit of time to look at how and when we put this once-popular destination back on sale and we will update our customers when have any further news."
Yesterday, the Tunisia tourist office said its arrivals from January to May were up 46% year-on-year, despite the UK travel ban.
It said tourism from France and Germany had started to recover.
Maghreb tourism accounted for 60% of tourist arrivals during the period, and increase of almost 52%.
European arrivals accounted for only 17% of arrivals but their numbers were up by 31%.
The French ranked first with 153,050 tourists, up 45.1%, followed by Germans (37,909 tourists) and Italians (28,807).
There were also 8,943 British visitors, despite the Foreign Office warning.
Tunisia has also been diversifying to attract new markets, including the Russians, of which 44,754 visited during the period, up 2.6%.
According to the Central Bank of Tunisia tourism revenues at the end of April 2017 posted a slight increase of 5.2%.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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