In terms of strategic direction, the previously announced renewal of the boards of both federations, FTAV and FI2T, will bring about few changes: FTAV will continue to focus on Umrah and outbound travel, while FI2T will continue to seek to capture “diversification products.”
For FI2T, the new “rejuvenated” board is headed not by a travel agent, as has been the case since its founding, but by Walid Tritar, a figure with a triple profile: tour operator, hotelier, and travel agent. This appears to be an attempt to move FI2T away from its image as the “little brother of the travel agent federations” and position it as “the federation of diversification.”
Will the departure—at least officially—of outgoing president Houssem Ben Azzouz help ease tensions with a vengeful FTAV that has always resented the emergence of this competitor? Will the former and future president of the FTAV, Mr. Toumi, nevertheless forgive the administration for enlisting FI2T in its 2017 conflict with the FTAV over the pilgrimage (the FTAV’s complaint to the Administrative Court against the ONTT)?
Will the two federations set aside their internal squabbles to unite and make Tunisian travel agencies’ offerings more visible and competitive on the international stage, or will they let GetYourGuide establish its dominance and become the “Booking.com of excursions”? Will either or both of these federations have the ambition to develop a genuine strategy for high-value-added products? A strategy that would not simply consist of a string of themed trade shows—trade shows that should not be reduced to merely replenishing the federation’s coffers and securing reimbursements from the FODEC.
LM
the renewal of their boards