A record eleven million visitors, and the limits of the boom

2025 was the best tourism year on record. The receipts are real, and so are the limits.

Tunisia drew around eleven million international visitors in 2025 and roughly 2.68 billion dollars in receipts, a record on both counts, helped by nineteen new direct air routes and the steady return of European demand. Authorities want more this year, including visa free access for Chinese travellers and further investment in airports and desert tourism.

The money matters. Tourism is one of the few sectors that earns hard currency quickly, supports the dinar and employs people across regions the rest of the economy neglects. A strong season eases the balance of payments in a way little else can.

The limits are familiar. The gains cluster on the coast, the jobs are seasonal, and a single security scare or a weak European summer can erase a year of progress. Tourism buys Tunisia time. The deeper repair, of investment, industry and the south, it cannot do alone.