TheTourism and Handicrafts Minister Mohamed Moez Belhassine paid yesterday, Sunday, November 7, 2022, a visit to the island of Djerba to check the progress of the winter tourist season and the island's preparations for the holding of the Francophonie Summit scheduled for November 19 and 20.

The minister inaugurated on the occasion the Tourism Ministry's operation and monitoring unit, which will ensure the coordination with the various regional and central authorities during the Summit.

He also inspected the preparations of the tourist establishments and units which will welcome the guests of the Summit and visited the Djerba-Zarzis airport which has recently undergone some refurbishment and embellishment works.

The minister underlined that a tourist and cultural itinerary had been set up for the benefit of the guests who would like to explore the island's various tourist and cultural sites and who would like to know the cultural and natural heritage of the island and of the entire Tunisian south.

Regarding the winter tourist season, the minister underlined the need to endeavour for a sustainable tourism which breaks with seasonality, indicating that 911,000 tourists had visited the island of Djerba between January 1 and October 31, i.e. a 116 % rise compared to the same period last year, while the number of overnight stays had reached 4.7 million.

The number of tourists who visited Tunisia during the same period was close to 5.4 million who spent nearly 20 million overnight stays, i.e. almost the same statistics achieved by the sector before the coronavirus pandemic, generating revenues of 3.5 million dinars.