SOUSSE, Tunisia: Ten years after a beach attack that killed 30 Britons and delivered a crippling blow to Tunisia’s tourism industry, European holidaymakers are finally returning in what authorities hope will be record-breaking numbers.
In June 2015, a Tunisian university student slipped a rifle out of a beach umbrella and opened fire on vacationers outside a hotel in Sousse, about 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of the capital.
The shooting, claimed by the Daesh group, left 38 people dead, most of them British, just months after another attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis killed 21 foreign visitors.
The violence sent a shockwave through Tunisia’s tourism industry, devastating one of the country’s most important sources of jobs and foreign currency.
But a decade later, the visitors are returning.
Diane Paul, a 74-year-old tourist from Wales staying at a five-star resort in Sousse not far from where the 2015 beach shooting occurred, said she knew people who survived the attack.
But that did not deter her from visiting the North African country again.
“Nowhere is safe,” she said, her skin flushed from the midday sun, adding she had decided not to let fear make “us prisoners in our own country.”
Foreign arrivals to Tunisia have jumped by nearly 10 percent this year compared with 2024, reaching 5.3 million through July 20, according to the National Tourism Office.
The government hopes to attract 11 million visitors by the end of the year, up from 10 million last year.
British tourism has surged most dramatically, up 48 percent through June, said Dora Milad, head of Tunisia’s hotel federation.
At the Pearl Marriott in Sousse, general manager Maher Ferchichi said the surge reflected “a return of trust in Tunisia as a safe destination.”
More than 90 percent of the hotel’s European guests were British, he added.
Roddy Drummond, the British ambassador in Tunisia, said the embassy forecasts that around “400,000 British tourists will visit Tunisia in 2025.”
That would translate to “around the same number as before the 2015 events,” Drummond added, crediting improved security for the shift.
Eileen Cuciurean, a longtime visitor from Britain, said she noticed more British people at her hotel than in recent years.
“In past years, sometimes we were the only ones,” the 78-year-old added.
Tourism is one of Tunisia’s most vital sources of foreign currency and generates about 700,000 jobs.
But while the return of visitors is a relief for the government and resort operators, many small businesses and artisans complain that the prevailing all-inclusive package model is keeping tourists behind hotel gates.
Mourad Hadhari, a crafts vendor in Tunis’s medina, said the crowds of foreigners visiting each year were not necessarily reflected in his revenues.
“It’s true we have millions of tourists, but they just come to sleep and eat at the hotel,” he said.
Ahmed Bettaieb, head of the federation of travel agencies, said group tours and package deals represented about 70 percent of yearly visits from abroad.
Some are hoping to attract more visitors by pushing for higher-end investments and better flight deals.
Milad said beach tourism in Tunisia was “very attractive” for tourists, but limited direct low-cost flights were a major drag on growth.
“We need more flights outside the high season,” she said.
Tunisia sees European tourist numbers rebound decade after attack
https://arab.news/czgac
Tunisia sees European tourist numbers rebound decade after attack
- Foreign arrivals to Tunisia have jumped by nearly 10 percent this year compared with 2024
- British tourism has surged most dramatically, up 48 percent through June, said Dora Milad, head of Tunisia’s hotel federation
US military launches strikes in Syria against Daesh fighters after American deaths
- “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says
- President Trump earlier pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Daesh group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American interpreter almost a week ago.
A US official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had Daesh (also known as Islamic State or IS) infrastructure and weapons. Another US official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
The attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters, the officials said. F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and HIMARS rocket artillery also were used, one official said.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media.
President Donald Trump had pledged “very serious retaliation” after the shooting in the Syrian desert, for which he blamed Daesh. The troops were among hundreds of US troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the terrorist group.
Trump in a social media post said the strikes were targeting Daesh “strongholds.” He reiterated his support for Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who he said was “fully in support” of the US effort to target the militant group.
Trump also offered an all-caps threat, warning the group against attacking US personnel again.
“All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned — YOU WILL BE HIT HARDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN HIT BEFORE IF YOU, IN ANY WAY, ATTACK OR THREATEN THE USA.,” the president added.
The attack was a major test for the warming ties between the United States and Syria since the ouster of autocratic leader Bashar Assad a year ago. Trump has stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops and said Al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” which came as the US military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
Syria’s foreign ministry in a statement on X following the launch of US strikes said that last week’s attack “underscores the urgent necessity of strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in all its forms” and that Syria is committed “to fighting Daesh and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat.”
IS has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the US service members, but the group has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Syrian security forces since, one of which killed four Syrian soldiers in Idlib province. The group in its statements described Al-Sharaa’s government and army as “apostates.” While Al-Sharaa once led a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, he has had a long-running enmity with IS.
Syrian state television reported that the US strikes hit targets in rural areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces and in the Jabal Al-Amour area near Palmyra. It said they targeted “weapons storage sites and headquarters used by Daesh as launching points for its operations in the region.”
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring US service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria last Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the US Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a US civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
The shooting nearly a week ago near the historic city of Palmyra also wounded three other US troops as well as members of Syria’s security forces, and the gunman was killed. The assailant had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months ago and recently was reassigned because of suspicions that he might be affiliated with Daesh, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour Al-Din Al-Baba has said.
The man stormed a meeting between US and Syrian security officials who were having lunch together and opened fire after clashing with Syrian guards.
When asked for further information, the Pentagon referred AP to Hegseth’s social media post.
