TUNISIA-TOURISM: A new dynamic for a better positisioning

[Kris]

The tourist sector has been a key concern for the President of the Republic. The first 2008 Cabinet meeting was devoted to this key sector of the national economy.

Hardly a few days after the advent of the new administrative year, the Head of State expressed a sharp interest for the tourist sector. One that contributes to about 7% of the GNP, guaranteeing important hard currencies entries, employing more than 380.000 people and providing the livelihood of about 1.5 million people.

The presidential interest for this key sector, the economic and social impact of which need not be demonstrated, was expressed through a Cabinet meeting during which the Head of state took important measures for the development of the sector, the improvement of its profitability, its efficiency as well as the totality of its scores.


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[sylviachoudry]

we moved back to england because of work or lack of it , my husband is a waiter and in the winter you are left with no incom at all,the goverment gives a grant to hotels to take on the new waiters just left training, so older ones dont get the jobs so this makes it harder in summer as well to get work, plus how much adverts do you see for holidays in tunisia, it needs to be pushed like turkey and spain .

[Kris]

Your spot on already i feel that building all of these new apartments and developements need cheaper flights and more marketing.

Morocco has steamed ahead and Tunisia needs to play catchup

[issam]

tunisia has built the tourism industry on a well planned base any acheivement of stability made it more attractive to investers,morrocco is building this secteur the same way as spain which showed a heavy reccession in the recent years and became the conmershant land no wonder if you go now to costa del sol to see every body selling up and looking to relocate,over the next few years tunisia will be attracting more tourist than ever and hopfully we will be acheiving the optimum of morrocco which is 10 million tourist a year

[Kris]

Ti be fair issam I think Tunisia has some of these issues also Yasmine and other areas have a lot of new development.

15% of new build apartments in Tunisia are apparently empty which along with the new developments means that changes are needed to get more people buying.

For example as a UK buyer you can easily buy a property in Morrocco finance etc etc which is not so clear in Tunisia though not difficult.

I went to a property exhibition 3 months ago and morocco was everyware and nothing at all for Tunisian property.

[sylviachoudry]

this is a subject i know about as i have been there, you can have all the four and five star hotels, spa, beaches discos, ice rink, amusment park,roman ruins,thats hammamet emty hotels starving staff ,no hand outs you just dont eat untill you get work, no one knows about tunisia at work i was suprised 1 of my work mates had been; she enjoyed her stay in port el kantoui but thats the only place thay went,and she took that hol,on the word of the travel shop hho were pushing p el kant. get good adverts in mags and tv ,get the shops to expand the way thay think about tunisia some dont know where yasmine hammamet is ,

[Paulblatch]

I am coming to Tunisia in 2 weeks time and intended looking at a property to buy, but after reading so many negative comments about the property sector in Tunisia I feel buying in Morocco would be a better investment.

[ROULLA]

Hi Paulblatch,

I do hope that you are in good health !
I myself have been going to Tunisia for over 20 years and feel that the property market has risen, i wish that we had purchased another property back then as they were so much cheaper then....i am still thinking of buying another property in Tunisia, im just not sure exactly where yet, as there are so mant beautiful places...don't let peoples opinions put you off, Tunisia is a really beautiful country and if you have a few bob could live like a king, you just have to know where to look to buy a property, and make sure that you go through the right channels so that you dont get ripped off ..........
A property in Tunisia is an investment and the way things are going its becoming upmarket in certain places........Theirs a guy called Issam on here who deals with property if i'm not mistaken and he seem to know what his talking about maybe you could send him a private message, or even Kris the administrater may even be able to advise you as his quite clued up as well.
What ever you decide good luck with buying a property..............Tunisia is well worth the money.................

[Lucy]

Hello all, interested in buying property in Tunisia. It is not enough to contact somebody who is 'clued-up,' or simply 'deals' in property. Buying property in Tunisia is not like buying a property in England which is relatively straight forward and easy.

There are so many rules and regulations for foreigners buying in Tunisia. For example if you are looking for land to build your own villa as a friend of mine was, you can be told all sorts of things by the vendor, such as he has permission for building, or the land has been designated for building...etc, then you pay a fortune at a solicitors, and a fortune to have everything translated, only to find that the vendor lied to you all along, i.e. he has no permission, and the land is on agricultural land, which foreigners cannot buy.

You have to put an application into the governor when buying property if you are a foreign buyer and every contract that you sign will be in either French or Arabic. You could use the services of somebody 'dealing in property' and unbeknown to you, he could be getting a fortune in commission behind your back.

It is much better to use the services of a reputable real estate company, who have arrangements to sell the properties with the vendors and who are clear at the outset as to how much commission you will be paying. They will guide you through the process, instead of being left to do everything yourself and find your own solicitor etc. I have also heard many horror stories of people who found their own solicitor who in turn charged them a rate 200 x more than what he would have charged an ordinary Tunisian citizen.

All estate agents in Tunisia charge commission and so you should not listen to anybody who tells you that they will do it for nothing, as usually this is the kind of person that will sell you an apartment worth 50,000 Tunisian Dinars for 70,000 Dinars.

To sell properties in Tunisia you have to be either living there and know the market and what is going on, or have employees working for you in the area. You cannot expect to sit there in Europe and simply be 'in-the-know' or 'dealing in property!!' Or to deal with a company that doesn't specialise entirely in Tunisia and has many different countries on their website is usually the kind of person that started buying and selling properties in Tunisia, having never even visited the country and is just out to make a fast buck!!

I have bought very successfully through a British Estate agency, http://www.thetunisianhouse.co.uk dealing in Tunisian property. They have been operating for over two years now and I was never left alone once to deal with anything. The lady running the business is married to a Tunisian, had been travelling out there for over 20 years, before living there for 2 years and setting up the business with employees on the ground in Tunisia working for her. She knows all of the vendors, individually and personally.

They even translated some of the official papers for me. If you need to know anything more, please contact me on my email address lucyadams82@yahoo.co.uk as I will be happy to tell you about my experiences

[Essem]

Hi Paul,

When I bought here, I did it the hard way and had a few nightmares along the way - too long a story for here. After 3+ years I'm still waiting for the Titre Fonciere - my solicitor (the second one I've had to hire as the first one turned out to be the sister in law of the vendor!) told me yesterday that it should be next week. Watch this space!

You need a company here with English speaking reps who are fully conversant with the legal side as well and who will take you through and be by your side every step of the way.

It's not just the finding of property and handing over the cash - it's all the other stuff that you have to deal with that can become problematic. As soon as I hired the second lawyer, he pointed out that I'd bought the property in my name (I'm divorced and I've always kept the same name because of mortgage, children etc.) and as that is not my family name, I have to do new paperwork in my maiden name as under Tunisian law it has to be in your family name!!!

Don't know anything about the Moroccan property situation at all so can't comment on that. I do think, however, that Tunisia is a great investment at the moment.

Three years ago property on the beach here was 800TD per square metre now it's 1400TD psm - quite a jump! I don't think you can lose buying here and also from what I've heard Tunisia is the most tolerant of the Arabic speaking countries towards foreigners.

Hope this helps!