How can debate and commentary on the Tunisian tourism development model be silenced? Judging by the practices of the past thirty years, the answer was: by restricting access to any information other than visitor numbers and by focusing public debate on the individual failures of businesses, particularly hotel debt.
Otherwise, “alternative tourism” or “sustainable tourism” serve as a diversion, without ever taking the step of establishing “specifications” for “alternative accommodations” or changing hotel standards that have become obsolete. And above all, without resolving—except sporadically—the problem of waste collection and treatment.
Due to a lack of resources and, above all, a clear objective shared by all, the illusion of a model of growth without development has been maintained. The end result is that we have fostered the emergence of a type of decision-maker who is loud-mouthed or career-driven, and above all, a master at managing the status quo. Two examples, one from the 1990s and the other from the 2010s, presented in this video, support our argument.
By Lotfi Mansour, tourism consultant, former director of specialized magazines, Editing Director of Touriscope
Production: MCM.