The tourist flow from Russia to Tunisia declined, but showed stable dynamic

The flow of tourists from Russia to Tunisia in 2017 fell by 17% in comparison with the results of 2016. This follows from the latest data of arrivals of foreign tourists to this country. Nevertheless, market experts believe that in the conditions of 2017 this is the success of Tunisia. According to the Minister of Tourism of Tunisia, the number of arrivals of foreign tourists to the country for the period from January 1 to December 27, 2017 was 6, 731 million people, which exceeded the initial forecasts of the department. This figure reflects the growth of the total tourist flow to Tunisia by 23% in annual terms. The number of arrivals of Russian tourists to Tunisia in 2017 was 514 thousand people. In comparison with the record year of 2016, when 623 thousand tourists came here from Russia, this fall is more than 17%. Experts of the Russian tourism market regard that this indicator is naturally determined and the "fall" actually reflects growth. 514 thousand of our tourists in Tunisia in 2017, in conditions of opened Turkey, showed a good dynamics and natural growth of the direction The fall was inevitable. We should understand that the sharp growth of the Russian tourist flow to Tunis in 2016 was due to only one factor – closed Egypt and Turkey. As for the prospects for Tunisia on the Russian market in 2018, the experts agree that mostly it will depend on the timescales of the opening of the charter flights to the Egyptian resorts and prices for local tourist product. The second factor is the price policy of Turkey on the Russian market in 2018. "If Hurghada and Sharm-El-Sheikh will be opened in the spring before the summer season and Turkey keeps the price on the level of 2017 with slight variations, Tunisia will hardly repeat the results of 2017 - the outflow will be significant. But in any case, the repetition of the 2017 results in 2018 will be a huge success for Tunisia", - underlined one of the experts.