USAID Visit Tunisia

• Client: United States Agency for International Development
• Partners: Chemonics International
• Project Duration: May 2021 - December 2023

Overview 

Tunisia has a wealth of natural and cultural resources, which range from desert to lush areas as well as millennia-old archaeological relics. Added to that is a beautiful stretch of a sandy Mediterranean coast, which is the major attraction for many tourists who opt for all-inclusive resort holidays. Yet, Tunisia remains an undervisited destination, with substantial gaps in visitation between different regions, despite their great potential. A diversified, high-quality alternative tourism sector would help grow the fragile local economy, which is facing even larger challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of today, high unemployment rates and regional socio-economic imbalances remain, especially for women and youth. To address these development challenges, Tunisia needs to increase investment and economic opportunities in underserved geographic areas, through expanding tourism products, experiences, and spending, into these regions. Visit Tunisia was established to reconstruct Tunisia’s tourism sector through sustainable, innovative, and enterprise-driven solutions, with clear tangible objectives.

The USAID-funded Visit Tunisia activity was designed to enhance the country’s alternative tourism potential, with the goal of generating revenue and jobs. Visit Tunisia’s objective was to strengthen Tunisia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination, increase tourism-related investments, and improve the environment for sustained growth in the tourism sector. Generating private sector-led growth and investment was highly prioritized by the activity. This supported the self-reliance of the local tourism industry. The activity capitalized on Tunisia’s rich natural, cultural, and historical attributes and developed various travel niches such as cultural, adventure, and nature-based tourism to create a year-round destination.

Major Activities

• Develop a national strategic plan, a branding and positioning plan, and an action matrix for Tunisia’s alternative tourism sector, based on thorough research, analysis, and validation developed and agreed upon by public and private sector stakeholders
• Develop and promote tourism products, local businesses, events, and festivals in the interior regions of Tunisia, away from traditionally visited coastal destinations
• Engage the private sector to expand the offerings and quality of tourism services and related products, leading to more sustainable and enterprise-driven outcomes
• Strengthen the capacity of destination management organzations to accelerate the growth of alternative tourism services and products and to promote their region as an alternative tourism destination
• Advance women’s and youth entrepreneurship, workforce development, and access to skills, as well as create an inclusive environment for women and youth to succeed economically
• Encourage and facilitate dialogue between the public and private sector as well as local communities throughout Tunisia to advance alternative tourism, with an emphasis on localities for which new tourism products and sites are developed

Accomplishments

• The National Tourism Strategy (NTS) was developed and adopted, based on ideas generated during the National and Regional Workshops of Tunisian Tourism, in cooperation with stakeholders from both public and private sectors across the country.
• The NTS focuses on ambitious growth and sustainability, emphasizing investment in, diversification, and marketing of Tunisia’s tourism offerings to enhance benefits for the Tunisian people and boost global competitiveness.
• An action matrix for Tunisia’s tourism sector was created to guide NTS implementation.
• The National Tourism Marketing Plan was developed and adopted.
• Six Destination Development Plans were completed and adopted for under-visited areas in Tunisia, identified for their potential in community-based and sustainable tourism. These plans were created with input from local authorities such as the Comité Régional du Tourisme (CRT), municipalities, regional bodies, private sector stakeholders, NGOs, and associations.
• Support was provided to FTADD (Fédération Tourisme Authentique Destination Dahar), Tunisia’s first Destination Management Organization (DMO). Solimar’s support included:
  • Conducting an organizational assessment to evaluate FTADD’s financial, human resources, and training needs
  • Developing a business plan for financial sustainability, focusing on revenue-generating services
  • Creating a digital marketing plan to enhance regional marketing efforts
  • Providing technical assistance to strengthen FTADD
• Support provided for creating and distributing 13 monthly online newsletters as part of Visit Tunisia’s communication strategy.
• Marketing content was developed for 12 Tunisian adventure and nature-focused SMEs, highlighting the essence of each business and its offerings.
• The USAID Visit Tunisia Market Readiness Program was developed and launched, providing one-on-one technical assistance to prepare small tourism businesses for the market.
• 57 tourism SMEs supported through the Visit Tunisia Marketing Readiness Program. The program offered targeted support in crucial areas such as market comprehension, pricing strategies, marketing, online presence, and more.