S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 From January to August this year, 1,320 Brazilians travelled to Tunisia, up 76% from the same period in 2011, according to the Tunisian Ministry of Tourism. The figures indicate that demand for trips to the country picked up after the Arab Spring, which erupted in the country early last year as a wave of protests led to the ousting of dictator Zine El Abdine Ben Ali, and to elections being held.<\/p>\n
The businesswoman Helena Romano, of the S\u00e3o Paulo-based travel agency HR Viagens e Turismo, for which Tunisia is a leading destination, claimed that demand has risen. \u201cI did sense an increase. Travels to Tunisia had come to a halt because of the Arab Spring, but from October last year onwards, the demand returned,\u201d she said. The parliamentary election which enabled a new government to be formed took place in October 2011.<\/p>\n
For Slim Fsili, of Tun\u00edsia Tur, also in S\u00e3o Paulo, an even greater increase may take place before the year ends. \u201cThe demand [usually] improves in the second half. We should see a 30% increase as against the first half,\u201d he said. He emphasized that the weather gets milder in September, once the scorching North African summer is over.<\/p>\n
Fsili estimates that the number of Brazilian visitors should reach 1,800 this year and up to 3,000 a year in the near future, but believes the figures could be much higher. \u201cThere is a dearth of promotional work, because there is no [tourism] representation bureau. The [Tunisian] government is not active on the Brazilian market [when it comes to tourism], there is a lack of marketing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The promotion is left to the operators themselves, such as Romano and Fsili, who take actions such as inviting journalist to visit the country, publish advertisements and attend industry fairs. The owner of Tun\u00edsia Tur claimed that government-backed marketing has worked well in other countries. <\/p>\n
\u201cCountries such as the Dominican Republic, which used to receive as many Brazilians four years ago as Tunisia does today, is now receiving 40,000,\u201d he said. He also mentioned the Czech Republic, Jordan and Morocco.<\/p>\n
Romano said travel packages for Tunisia are already available for October, the New Year, and the Carnival holiday. In Tunisia, according to him, Brazilians look mostly for the Sahara Desert, but because the general public knows little about the country, they end up surprised with the variety of tourist spots. \u201cEach day is a new surprise,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Fsili added that cultural tourism also attracts much interest, considering the country\u2019s major historical, architectural, and artistic heritage. It is worth noting that Tunisia has been home to great civilizations ever since Antiquity. Tunis, the capital, was built in the place of the old Carthage, a city-state which competed with the Roman Republic for control of the Mediterranean. Hannibal left Carthage with his army and his elephants, intent on wrecking the Eternal City, in one of the most widely commented adventures in history. <\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The demand for air tickets to the country has risen after the Arab Spring. Tourist inflow from Brazil to Tunisia increased by 76% from January to August this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tourism"},"wps_subtitle":"The demand for air tickets to the country has risen after the Arab Spring. Tourist inflow from Brazil to Tunisia increased by 76% from January to August this year.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}