NEWS 1


Hammamet: Cook has started flying to Tunisia from Manchester, Birmingham and Gatwick


YOU NEED TO KNOW


A snap YouGov poll on Tuesday asked:


If you were going to consider an overseas beach holiday, would you be happy to holiday in Tunisia?


Would be happy to consider visiting in six months or so


15% 10%


Don’t know


Experts predict low prices will fuel Tunisia recovery


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


Tunisia’s tourism revival will be driven by price, say experts, as Thomas Cook became the first major UK operator to return since the 2015 Sousse massacre.


Derek Moore, chairman of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, said “there will be appetite” from UK tourists because low prices will trump security fears. “Tunisia was always good value.


History shows concerns are dissolved in a deluge of low prices. It needed someone big, such as Cook or Tui, to go back, but price is the key. Memories don’t last forever.” Thomas Cook is offering a


week’s all-inclusive in Hammamet for less than £300 in March


and from £419 in June. Alan Bowen, legal adviser to the Association of Atol Companies, said: “It is very good value; operators are virtually giving hotel rooms away. They are obviously desperate for tourists. It will sell on price this year, but it will be a slow process getting people to go back.” Tunisia had been off the market


since a gunman opened fire at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse, killing 30 Britons. The Foreign Office (FCO) subsequently advised against travel to Tunisia, halting UK tour operator programmes. The advisory was lifted in July 2017, after which Thomas Cook and some smaller operators announced plans to return. Cook’s three flights a week to Enfidha, from Manchester, Gatwick and Birmingham, started on


4 travelweekly.co.uk 15 February 2018


Tuesday. The operator said prices were not discounted and about 15,000 bookings had been made. Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: “We took our time to carefully consider going back with three flights a week. They are very well booked and in the summer we are ramping it up to six flights a week.” Tui put a small Tunisia


programme on sale in January. Four flights a week, from Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham and Gatwick to Enfidha, begin in May. Chief executive Fritz Joussen


said: “We opened the destination because demand was there [but] we are not on a mission.” Data from three major global


distribution systems, collated by Beyond Analysis, showed UK bookings to Tunisia up 85% this year, “from a low base”.


51% 24%


Would be happy to visit now


Would not be happy to visit


More 18 to 24-year-olds would be happy to visit now (21%) compared with 50 to 65-year olds (14%) and those over the age of 65 (11%)


l YouGov questioned 5,509 UK adults on February 13


Globally, flight bookings to Tunisia were up 20%. Holiday comparison website


TravelSupermarket has seen a 55% rise in searches for holidays to Tunisia in the last week, following coverage of Cook’s return. Spokeswoman Emma Grimster


said Tunisia has “long been a popular choice” for UK tourists but “will take some time” to attract pre- 2015 tourism numbers. In 2014, 425,000 Brits visited Tunisia, while about 20,000 travelled in 2016. The FCO’s website, despite


dropping its advisory against all but essential travel, still warns against a “heightened risk of terrorism against aviation” and that its state of emergency was extended for a month on February 10. Bowen said the advice was still “incredibly worrying”.


PICTURE: SHUTTERSTOCK


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88