A Cultural Heritage Tourism Sector Assessment
- Client: Smithsonian Institute
- Partners: Tunisia Ministry of Culture, Tunisia Ministry of Tourism and US Embassy in Tunisia
- Project Duration: November 2015 – March 2016
Project Description
Tunisia has a rich cultural heritage and a long history as a destination for travelers, however given recent terrorist events; the tourism sector in the country has been significantly impacted. To help revitalize the tourism sector in Tunisia and improve local economic conditions affected by the terrorist attacks, Solimar supported Smithsonian staff through the assessment of cultural tourism assets in the country and provided recommendations for priority actions that can enhance cultural tourism in the country.
Major Activities
- Understand the General Tourism Context: gathered and reviewed relevant documents on the country’s tourism sector, including existing plans and activities, tourism data, other assessments and strategies
- Understand the Local Site Context: reviewed and selected specific cultural heritage sites and gather relevant information about each of these sites and the destinations in which they are located.
- Understand the Support Systems, Infrastructure, Human Resource Capacity and Distribution Channels: gained a clearer understanding of the tourism system and get a full appreciation for how cultural tourism has been developed and sold as well as its current issues and opportunities it faces.
- Conduct Comparative and Competitive Analysis: Identified potential models and best practice examples from the region to help provide real life examples for other sites with similar issues or opportunities and assess the major competition for the sites reviewed by the team.
- Compile Strategic Analysis: analyzed each cultural tourism site, its assets, its cultural significance and draw, the infrastructure and services, its socioeconomic and cultural resource use considerations. Highlighted prioritized actions that will help to develop and enhance cultural tourism at the sites and in the country.
Results
- A Cultural Tourism Assessment and Strategic Recommendations Report for the Tunisia Ministry of Culture and Tunisia Ministry of Tourism that integrated the assessment findings and recommendations for the cultural tourism sector
