THETUNISIAN government is aiming to attract higher-spending clients following the completion of a major upmarket resort, Yasmine Hammamet, in 2001.
The £52m resort, which lies between the existing destinations of Hammamet and Sousse, will have 40 hotels, offering a total of 22,500 beds.
Half the hotels will be four and five-star properties.
Other facilities will include a 780-boat marina, restaurants and a shopping complex with designer boutiques.
Minister for tourism and handicrafts Slaheddine Maaoui said:”In the past we had mass tourism, which attracted low-spending tourists.
“With Yasmine Hammamet we want to provide a more diverse product and attract more wealthy tourists.”
While 13 of the 40 hotels have already been completed, UK tour operators are not yet featuring Yasmine Hammamet in their brochures because of the on-going building work on the remaining hotels and the marina.
Panorama managing director Justin Fleming said:”We think the resort has great potential for the future, and we will look at featuring it once the marina has been built.”
The government predicts the marina will be completed within a year.
Tunisian National Tourist Office director Houssem Ben Azouz is expecting a 10% rise in visitor numbers to around 300,000 UK tourists this year. “The trend was already good even before the Kosovo crisis and terrorist attacks in Turkey. Those two factors are helping to increase our visitor numbers.”