Tunisia resort to mark one-year anniversary of gun attack
Events will be held this Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of the gun attack in Tunisia which killed 30 British holidaymakers.
In total, 38 people died when a lone terrorist opened fire on the beach at the resort of Port El Kantaoui, near Sousse.
All of the British holidaymakers killed were staying with Thomson at the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba.
The Tunisian Ministry of Tourism and the British Embassy in Tunis are holding an event at the hotel this Sunday, including a minute’s silence.
"Naturally, our thoughts continue to be with the families and friends of the victims of the terrorist attack in Sousse at this difficult time," Tarek Aouadi, director of the Tunisian National Tourist Office for the UK and Ireland, told TravelMole.
But Aouadi said he was disappointed that a year after the attack there is no change to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice against all but essential travel to Tunisia.
"Recently, we have been urging the FCO to reconsider this advice, and we believe that they are continuing to review it," he said.
"We do believe that with international support including from the UK security forces, Tunisia has made huge strides forward in the area of security. This includes training and appointing additional officers, as well as reinforcing security on the Libyan border and many other measures.
A TravelMole poll earlier this month showed the majority of UK travel agents would also like to see the FCO advice changed.
"We have had fantastic support from the UK travel trade and would like to thank all your readers for their continued support," said Aouadi.
This week, the state of emergency in Tunisia has been extended until July 21.
But Aouadi said this does not mean the country is not safe to visit.
"After all, there is also a state of emergency in place in France, and this has had no apparent impact on the decision of hundreds of thousands of British people to travel there to watch the football," he said.
"We hope to see a change to the advice in the near future, and those independent travellers who continue to visit the country, can do so from the UK with regular flights from the national carrier, Tunisair."
The number of British arrivals to Tunisia has fallen by 93.2% year-on-year the first five months of this year.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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