Tunisia's Tourism Boom

Tunisia has become one of the fastest growing tourism stories in the Mediterranean and in Africa. After a brutal decade, from security incidents to the pandemic. The country not only recovered but surpassed its previous records. In 2025 it welcomed more than 11 million international visitors. In this article, I'll show you two simple charts that show how fast Tunisia's tourism has turned around.

Tourism has long been an important part of Tunisia's economy. But the sector was hit hard in the mid 2010s by terrorist attacks and then again by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, international arrivals collapsed to just above 2 million, wiping out years of growth. But impressively, within just a few years, Tunisia managed one of the sharpest rebounds in the region.

As the chart shows, Tunisia welcomed more than 9.5 million international visitors in 2019, however next year arrivals fell sharply because of COVID-19 pandemic. But by 2023 visitor numbers climbed back to 9.3 million and then surpassing 10 million the next year. By 2025, Tunisia had broken its highest record, surpassing 11 million visitors. This is the highest figure in its history.

This reflects a combination of aggressive promotion, and targeted investments in infrastructure and safety.

Tourism revenues are growing too

Visitor numbers tell only part of the story. What also matters for the Tunisian economy is how much money those visitors are spending. And the trend is also up here.

Revenues had fallen sharply in 2020 because of the pandemic. However by year 2023, tourism revenue had climbed to around 6.9 billion dinars, in 2024 they reached about 7.5, an 8.3% increase compared to the previous year. In 2025 revenues exceeded 8 billion dinars for the first time ever.

Basically, revenues have been rising too, factors behind this include longer stays, higher-value packages, and the diversification of the Tunisian tourism industry.