Record tourism numbers expected in Tunisia

• 10m visitors due in 2024
• Revenue already past $2.2bn
• Tourism now 9% of economy

Tunisia expects to break its all-time record for tourism numbers in 2024, with more than 10 million visitors.

The number of incoming tourists so far this year is approximately 9.9 million, with the National Tourism Office expecting that the figure will pass 10 million by December 31. 

That would mark a record high in tourism numbers for Tunisia.

Tunisia’s tourism revenue from the beginning of the year until the end of November topped TND6.94 billion ($2.2 billion), marginally higher than the TND6.7 billion reported at the same time last year.

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Tourism is crucial to the Tunisian economy, contributing 9 percent of GDP and employing 400,000 people.

Tunisia was beginning to recover from the impact on tourism numbers of terrorist attacks in 2015 when Covid-19 struck. The war in Ukraine has also pushed up food prices in the country.

Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.5 percent in real terms between 2019 and 2023.

While growth is back, with GDP up 1.8 percent in Q3 2024, Tunisia still has a debt load equal to roughly 80 percent of its annual GDP. It must pay off 9 billion dinars in debts in the first quarter of 2025, including 5.1 billion dinars in foreign debt.

On Tuesday, the government borrowed an additional $2.2 billion from the central bank to help it repay debts next year. This marks the second instance in a year of the government tapping the central bank for funds.