As of November 30, tourism receipts for 2024 topped the 2 billion euro mark (6.8 billion dinars), up 6.8% on 2023 (+6.3% in euros). Total arrivals were 9.3 million, up 8.3% on the same period last year (+ 9% on 2019).
However, overnight stays, although up on 2023, were down 10.9% on 2019 (25.6 million instead of 28.8 million), negatively impacting the average hotel occupancy rate (43.3%, down 4.7% on 2019).
Three hypotheses, which could be complementary, would explain this discrepancy between arrivals/receipts and overnight stays:
- Hotels sold at better prices;
- The sharp increase in Algerian tourists (3 million vs. 2.4 million in 2019), who are less keen on hotel overnight stays;
- The development of overnight stays in guest houses and, above all, apartments, not all of which are taken into account by ONTT statistics.
This last hypothesis seems to coincide with the underperformance of certain regions, notably Tunis, where the drop in overnight stays compared to 2019 is almost 24%. On booking.com, for example, the city of Tunis alone shows over 150 apartments.