Revitalizing Tunisian Tourism: Identifying A Sustainable Approach

Abstract

Often considered the lone success story emanating from the events of the Arab Spring in 2011, Tunisia has struggled to maintain democratic and economic successes. Tourism has long served a dual purpose for the Tunisian state — projecting cultural relevance abroad and augmenting economic progress — but has floundered in the 21st century due to a range of unpreventable crises and preventable bureaucratic shortcomings and mismanagement. This thesis reviews important and relevant historical, political, and economic events, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the current state approach to tourism, considers strategies from other countries in the region, and offers a range of short-term and long-term recommendations for bolstering tourism planning, infrastructure, messaging, and marketing. This thesis finds that despite Tunisia’s celebrated transition to democracy post-Arab Spring, its tourism sector remains underdeveloped and hampered by numerous systemic challenges that hinder diversification and sectoral development. Despite long-articulated goals of diversifying away from its traditional mass beach tourism offerings, this thesis identifies a continuing reliance on all-inclusive beach resort packages and an inability to capture increased visitor-spending compared to Mediterranean competitors. Proposing several recommendations to accelerate Tunisia’s path towards expanded and diversified tourism experiences, this thesis offers strategies for harnessing advanced analytics and emerging marketing techniques, improving the quality and accessibility of cultural and heritage assets, overhauling dated or non-existent accommodation and transportation infrastructure, lessening the industry’s sustainable footprint through community-informed frameworks, and reforms focused on the industry’s stifling regulatory bureaucracy.