Tunisian Economic Forum Discusses Future of Tourism Sector
On Thursday, September 18, 2025, the Tunisian Economic Forum held its ninth session at the headquarters of the Arab Institute of Business Leaders (IACE). The event, themed "Tourism in Tunisia: Towards New Horizons," brought together officials, experts, and professionals to discuss the future of the sector and ways to develop it to adapt to global changes.
Ahmed Karam, the forum's coordinator, led the discussions, which focused on the perspectives and potential of Tunisian tourism. Aymen Rahmani, representing the National Tourism Office, presented an overview of the sector's development over the past few seasons. Safouane Ben Aïssa and Ahmed Zerrouk presented a study by the IACE on the sector's indicators.
According to the presented figures, the 2025 tourist season saw remarkable growth. The number of foreign tourists exceeded 5 million, representing a 9.8% increase compared to 2024. Tourist revenues reached 5.44 billion dinars by the end of August 2025, recording an 8% growth.
The study also predicted that these results could double between 2026 and 2030, provided that the legislative framework is modernized and the sector's operational mechanisms are improved. It is possible to achieve revenues of nearly 13 billion dinars, representing an increase of over 24%, and create between 23,000 and 33,000 new jobs. The study also highlighted the positive impacts on tax revenues.
The experts present affirmed that Tunisian tourism has strong assets to become a driver of economic growth in the coming years, particularly with the emergence of new types of tourism such as health tourism, retirement tourism, and alternative tourism.
However, achieving these ambitions requires deep structural reforms, infrastructure development, improvement of service quality, and intensification of the promotion of the Tunisian destination internationally.
Key Statistics:
- 5 million foreign tourists in 2025, a 9.8% increase from 2024
- 5.44 billion dinars in tourist revenues by the end of August 2025, an 8% growth
- Potential for revenues to double between 2026 and 2030, reaching 13 billion dinars
- Creation of 23,000 to 33,000 new jobs
- Positive impacts on tax revenues
Future Prospects:
- Emergence of new types of tourism, such as health tourism, retirement tourism, and alternative tourism
- Need for deep structural reforms, infrastructure development, and improvement of service quality
- Importance of promoting the Tunisian destination internationally to achieve growth ambitions.
