When we talk about the tourism sector, such a strategic sector to which we often attribute the title of savior of the national economy, the control of the essential actors who compose this sector such as travel agencies and hotels is almost non-existent. As a result, the damage to Tunisia has been serious and responsibilities will have to be very heavy. Indeed, a tourist bus fell into a ravine on Sunday, December 1, killing 29 people and injuring 16 others in northwestern Tunisia, according to a report, still provisional, from the authorities.
Immediately after the accident, statements follow one after the other to say that the road and its condition were at the origin of the accident in order to blame all 27 deaths on the road infrastructure while they categorically refuse to look at the root causes.
But the Ministry of Tourism is not adequately fulfilling its role of controlling the actors in this sector, especially since the majority of them do not respect any safety standards and regulations to ensure a strict minimum of rights for customers.
The Amdoun tragedy was the result of laxity and lack of state control, which put travellers’ safety at risk. We must not forget the young Adem Boulifa, who came to one of the most famous hotels in downtown Tunis to celebrate his 23rd birthday, but his life ended there on the night of November 16-17, 2019.
The problem of compliance with the law by the key players in the tourism sector (travel agencies, hotels, etc.) is not new, but in recent years it has proliferated considerably, especially since cases of scams, fraud, poor services and even the publication of false financial information are no longer counted on the fingers of one hand and the very safety of customers has just been threatened.
In order not to lose any more human lives, the control of the actors in the tourism sector will have to be strengthened. Better still, they must be screened.
TunisianMonitorOnline (by Amine BEN GAMRA Chartered Accountant – Auditor/ Member of the Tunisian Order of Chartered Accountants- Translated from UniversNews)
