Year: 2017

200 Million Chinese Travelers Expected by 2020

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The Chinese penchant for international travel continues to grow at a record rate, impacting the visa policies of countries around the world that want attract these travelers flush with cash. According to a new report from ForwardKeys, bookings among Chinese nationals for outbound travel during the upcoming Chinese New Year (which is in February) are currently 40 percent ahead of where they were during the same time last year. A variety of countries are benefitting from the rising tide of Chinese travelers. Those countries leading the pack in increased bookings from Chinese…

Tunisia to get €122M from AfDB to boost growth in 16 governorates

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 – The African Development Bank (AfDB) will grant Tunisia a loan of €122 million ($141.6 million) to back the second phase of its inclusive regional development support programme (PADRI-II), we learnt last Friday. The PADRI whose first phase had been financed by the Bank, aims to stimulate growth in 16 governorates through a socio-economic inclusion support, while also focusing on local governance. According to the pan-African bank, the programme aligns with two of its main priorities. “It will help boost public investment from 64% to 70% over the next five years,…

Islam and women, the challenge of anti-discrimination rights

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The European Parliament in Brussels is hosting a conference titled “Islam and Women”, where various Muslim women participants who live in Europe are expressing their viewpoints, some of which are even contradictory. “To fight discrimination against women you have to invest in education and economic growth. Religion is the least of the problems,” said Imen Ben Mohamed, a Tunisian MP who has lived in Italy since she was 15 years old, and wears a veil. She graduated from Rome’s La Sapienza University with a degree in International Cooperation. Meanwhile, Seyran…

Awareness-raising campaign to help prevent obesity and diabetes

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On the occasion of World Diabetes Day, the Pasteur Clinic in partnership with Novo Nordisk will organize a public awareness-raising campaign to help prevent obesity and diabetes. The campaign will start on November 11 in Sfax, in the Diabetic club “of the “Maison du diabéte” with music, art and dance in Miami Centre. On November 12, the Tunis Northern Centre will host an event called “ La santé en marche”. It includes the promotion of a healthy life style, with a set of activities. This business city will turn into…

Poetry reciting at centre of cultural event in Saudi embassy

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A cultural poetic evening will be held tomorrow November 8  at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tunisia, under the chairmanship of his excellency  Ambassador Mohammed Bin  Mahmoud Al-Ali, where prominent Saudi poet Abdallah Bin Hamad Assikhan as well as  Tunisian poet Moncef Mezguini will recite some of their great poems, accompanied by prestigious music. This cultural event  will  certainly offer a glimpse of the poetic experiences in Tunisia and the Saudi Kingdom  and will provide the opportunity to enhance  cooperation in the cultural field. TunisianMonitorOnLine

‘Running may be the most cost-effective lifestyle medicine’

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With New York City hosting the world’s biggest and most popular marathon yesterday, runners around the world were picturing its storied finish line to push for that extra kilometre. But is running actually good for your health? Yes, say experts, as long as you are careful. Runners are 30 per cent less likely to have a premature death and 45 per cent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than non-runners, according to a US study published in March in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. They can even expect…

Int’l tourist numbers heading for another record year

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The year 2017 looks set for another record in international tourist numbers, according to the United Nations World Tourism Barometer published on Monday. The barometer shows over 300 million international arrivals were made in July and August for the first time ever, and 901 million international tourist arrivals for the first eight months of the year. This is 56 million, or 7 percent, more over the first eight months of 2016, which ended with a total of 1.24 billion international travelers. The UNWTO said the results “reflect the sustained growth…

South Africa’s future is a human economy, not a political fix

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Long before the medium term budget speech in October, several voices had suggested that South Africa’s economic future is not so bright. For example, in 2015, political economist Moeletsi Mbeki argued that by 2020, high youth unemployment would most likely result in South Africa experiencing an uprising similar to the Arab Spring, which started in Tunisia in 2010 and then spread elsewhere in the region, especially to Egypt. At the same time, political analyst RW Johnson predicted that in 2017 the government would approach the International Monetary Fund for a…

Tunisia in talks with EU for ‘open skies’

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Tunisia’s tourism minister has revealed the country is in the final stages of negotiating an agreement with the European Union “to have open skies”. Speaking at World Travel Market London 2017, Selma Elloumi Rekik said: “Open skies are important for tour operators because they will have their own aircraft and it will be cheaper for them [to fly to Tunisia]. “It will also make Tunisia more attractive to low-cost carriers.” Rekik added that she hoped discussions would conclude by the end of the year, but that they may be held…

Enigmatic coral recorded for first time in Malta Very likely that only recently introduced to Malta

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Researchers from the Marine Ecology Research Group at the Department of Biology of the University of Malta have documented the presence of stony coral in Maltese harbours for the first time, observing sizeable colonies on jetties. “The Mediterranean Sea is notorious for invasion by non-native biota, resulting in an ever-increasing number of alien species recorded from this sea, including in Maltese waters. Nevertheless, when a new species is recorded, it is not always due to a recent introduction: many species are small and inconspicuous, and therefore may have been present…