Year: 2017

Tunisia breaks ground on 10-MW solar park

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Construction of Tunisia’s first photovoltaic (PV) power station, a 10-MW installation, began on Monday, Tunisian press agency Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) reported. The solar park is located in the governorate of Tozeur and is due to be connected to the grid in May next year. It is a project of the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company (STEG). STEG’s chief executive Moncef Harrabi was cited as saying in a press statement that a second phase of 10 MW is planned and that STEG is looking to implement 300 MW of additional…

Project to Plant Acacia Trees in Tunisia Combats Desertification

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A social enterprise project to plant acacia trees in Tunisia addresses water scarcity and desertification caused by climate change in Tunisia. Acacias For All was launched in 2012 by Sarah Toumi, a 29-year-old Tunisian social entrepreneur, with the objective to not only tackle desertification but also support local agricultural workers. The acacia tree is being introduced to farming communities as an alternative to olive and almond crops which do not thrive when irrigated with the salty ground water found here. Rainfall has been scarce in Tunisia in recent years and…

Face-Oil project promotes Tunisian olive oil

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A conference was recently held in Cap-Bon to present the main results of the various studies carried out as part of the FACEOIL research project, whose objective was to promote exports of Tunisian olive oil. The FACE OIL project is part of the FACE programme: “Fund for Academic Cooperation and Exchange between Denmark and Arab World”. It is the focus of co-operation between the University of Sfax LRM) and the University of Aarhus, Denmark (MAPP Centre). It is run by a Danish team composed of researchers-professors and experts in agri-food…

UK lifts Tunisia travel ban

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The Foreign & Commonwealth Office Wednesday said it no longer advises “against travel to Tunisia, except for parts of the south and interior and certain areas near the borders with Algeria and Libya,” according to www.gov.uk. Since the terrorist attack in Sousse in June 2015, which targeted tourists, the UK government has been working closely with the Tunisian authorities to investigate the attack and the wider threat from terrorist groups. Flights from the UK to Tunisia were banned since this date and the FCO had advised British travelers to avoid…

Tunisia: Sfax-Paris flight to resume operations from next October 30

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Tunisair regular flights Sfax-Paris will resume operations from October 30, 2017 with three weekly connections. Tunisair regional representative Issam Kchaou said Tunisair will operate three flights a week (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday), recalling that the company only provided one or two flights a week before suspending its activities in October 2013. The new air service will replace the flight currently scheduled by Tunisair Express (subsidiary of Tunisair), while offering preferential and promotional rates, knowing that the capacity (passengers) will increase from 87 to 126 seats, according to the same…

Different mustn’t mean threatening

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Regarding the recent letter from Linda Dorsey (“Experience belies fear of Muslims,” Jully 20), I, too, had a positive experience in Muslim countries, traveling in Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey where I lived for nine years, 1969-1978. I felt safer there than in Los Angeles. I taught school for the Department of Defense a few miles from the Syrian border. I went to Syria on three-day weekends, and visited Roman ruins, crusader castles.  On a cross country trip, my headlights blew out. I stopped in a village but was…

Tunisia heralds ‘recovery in European tourism’ in latest visitor figures

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British travellers appear to be defying the Foreign Office (FCO) travel ban on Tunisia, after almost 9,000 UK tourists visited the North African country in the first half of this year.  Almost 9,000 UK tourists visited the North African nation during the first half of the year Tunisia recorded 1,527,891 tourist arrivals from January 1 to May 20 – up 46% compared to the same period in 2016. In a tourism report, the Tunisian National Tourist Office said the visitor increase marked “the start of a recovery in European tourism”…

Ministers from Europe, Africa meet to tackle migrant crisis

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Interior ministers from 14 nations and the European Union agreed Monday to boost cooperation to tackle the migrant crisis along the deadly central Mediterranean route, promising to address why migrants leave home and to beef up actions against human traffickers. In a declaration at the meeting in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, the ministers also agreed to inform people about the risks of illegal migration and the possibility of voluntarily returning home. It was the second meeting of the group of European and African countries – and it included Libya,…

Trump budget slashes aid to Lebanon by 80 percent

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The Trump administration is seeking to slash military aid to Lebanon by 82 percent next year, according to the State Department’s 2018 budget plan. Last year, the U.S. provided $103 million in military aid – weapons, equipment and training – to Beirut. The 2018 budget projects about $19 million in anticipated aid. According to the State Department, the cuts would include the cessation of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which amounted to about $86 million in 2016. The move signals a potentially stronger stance by the Trump administration against Lebanon, and a change…

ME hotel sector stays flat in Q2, Africa positive

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The hotel industry in the Middle East reported nearly flat results during the second quarter of 2017, while hotels in Africa recorded growth across the three key performance metrics, according to data from STR. Occupancy levels in the Middle East slipped 0.1 per cent to 62.4 per cent and average daily rate (ADR) made a negligible increase of 0.8 per cent to $169.67. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) also increased 0.6 per cent to $105.84. In Oman, occupancy rates were recorded at 49.6 per cent in Q2, an increase on…