Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Moez Belhassein has given, on Wednesday, in Sbeïtla (governorate of Kasserine), the kick-off to the project “Visit Tunisia”, financed by the US government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with a global amount of 50 million dollars (the equivalent of nearly 144 million dinars), and this, in the presence of the American ambassador in Tunisia, Donald Bloom and several national, regional and local executives.
This new project, which extends over a period of 5 years, will promote the revival of the Tunisian tourist sector, through the conclusion of public-private partnerships, the use of digital innovation solutions, as well as the enhancement of the country’s natural assets and cultural and historical heritage in order to create a diversified and competitive tourist sector.
In fact, the project will allow the creation of 15,000 new jobs in the alternative tourism sector within the marginalized regions, in particular the governorate of Kasserine, and the increase of investments and tourist receipts by 20%, as well as the increase of the number of tourists to reach 11 and a half million by 2026.
The Minister of Tourism indicated, on this occasion, that despite a slight improvement of the tourism indicators during the year 2021 compared to the year 2020, “we are still far from the results achieved in 2019”.
He added that the objective assigned for the year 2022 is to reach 50% of the achievements of 2019 and to restore the usual rhythm of the tourist activity, by the years 2023 and 2024, and this, in spite of the structural problems in the sector.
For his part, Donald Bloom affirmed that the US government is committed to promoting economic growth and creating new employment opportunities in Tunisia, recalling that the USA had supported more than 19,000 Tunisian companies which were threatened by economic difficulties because of the coronavirus pandemic.
TunisianMonitorOnline
