Tunisia’s tourism spending reached approximately $5.7 billion in 2025, up 8.2% from 2024 and nearly 19% above 2023, underscoring the sector’s role in the national economy as the country seeks to sustain growth in international arrivals.
According to national tourism satellite account data, tourism directly contributed about $2.9 billion to Tunisia’s gross domestic product in 2025, equivalent to 5.2% of the economy. Direct gross value added reached approximately $2.8 billion, compared with $2.6 billion in 2024.
Nonresident visitors accounted for approximately $4.2 billion, or 73.1% of total tourism spending. Domestic tourism generated a further $1.5 billion, an annual increase of 8.7%.
Accommodation represented 40.3% of foreign visitors’ expenditure, followed by domestic passenger transportation at 20.2%, other goods and services at 19.4%, and restaurants at 12.9%.
Across the wider tourism economy, tourism-related industries generated approximately $10.1 billion in output and $5.5 billion in gross value added, representing 10.5% of Tunisia’s economy.
Tunisia welcomed 11.8 million international arrivals in 2025, making it the third-largest tourism destination in Africa.
Mixed 2026 Arrival Trends
Latest figures for 2026 present a more mixed picture. Estimates from the National Tourist Office indicate Tunisia recorded more than 8 million visitors between January and October 20, although numbers remained slightly below the previous year’s level. Tourism receipts reached approximately $2.25 billion by October 20, up around 3.7% year over year.
Detailed arrival data are available only through August. The January–August breakdown recorded 7.12 million nonresident entries, down 0.5% year over year but 13.2% above the equivalent 2019 period.
Algeria remained the largest individual market with 2.13 million entries, followed by Libya with 1.38 million. France led European markets with 839,385 arrivals, ahead of the United Kingdom at 333,477. European arrivals overall increased 3.1%, while entries from neighboring Maghreb countries declined 4.2%.
The figures underline Tunisia’s reliance on regional visitors while highlighting opportunities to strengthen European demand. The government is still targeting more than 12 million visitors in 2026, despite the slight decline through August.
TunisianMonitorNews
