Changes in air tourism to Tunisia in 2009–2018

Abstract

Background: T he subject of this study is an analysis of the changes of tourist air traffic in Tunisia between 2009 and 2018. During this time, Tunisia saw political changes and worldwide-reported coverage of terrorist attacks on tourists (2014–2015). The aim of this study was to attempt to determine the extent to which the Tunisian Revolution and terrorist attacks have had a negative impact on the decline in the tourist traffic, and to assess the rate of return of the tourist traffic and income in this sector to the levels from before the Revolution. Material and methods: The main source of statistical data for Tunisian airports are documents List of the busiest airports in Africa and Trafic Mondial / World Traffic, and data collected from individual airports for the relevant years. The main problem in the analysis and correlation was the access to reliable data on the volume of tourist traffic, and in the case of some airports, data presenting the volume of passenger traffic. Data from the Statistical Office of Tunisia were used to identify and analyse changes in revenues. Results: Data for 2009–2018 clearly show a decrease in the number of all passengers arriving in Tunisia by air travel. Conclusions: R esearch suggests that the decline in the number of tourists as a result of political changes and terrorist attacks has been characterised by different dynamics. Political events have a lower impact on the decrease in the number of tourists and have an effect over a longer period. It seems that after a period of a twofold decrease in the number of tourists – firstly, because of the revolution, and secondly, because of attacks after 2016, Tunisia has entered a period of prosperity in tourism, as evidenced by data for 2017–2018. However, after the record-breaking year 2019, the first quarter of 2020 began under the sign of the Coronavirus pandemic, and tourism around the world is facing a period of stagnation.