ABSTRACT
Tunisia's approach to tourism is a classic illustration of the package tour concept, as approximately 80 per cent of arrivals come in groups. This approach necessitated the establishment of an elaborate infrastructure constructed in a relatively short period of time. To accommodate the burgeoning demand for facilities along Tunisia's 800 mile coastline, the country launched a major hotel construction programme during the 1970s and 1980s. The expansion was dramatic, making Tunisia one of the fastest growing tourist economies in the world (Table 13.1). With just over a 34,000 bed capacity in 1970, today the industry has grown to a capacity of more than 160,000 (Office National du Tourisme Tunisien 1995) and the Ministry of Tourism anticipates that the total capacity will exceed 200,000 by the end of the century (Tunisia Digest 1993). Although the Tunis vicinity has a very large number of hotels, the majority of the bed capacity (about 70 per cent) is found in the prime resort areas of Nabeul- Hammamet, the ‘Sahel’ (a section of the eastern littoral) and the Djerba- Gabes regions. On the whole, the newer resort establishments are larger and have been purpose-built for the European package tour industry.
