“La Route du Jasmin” represents an important opportunity to promote Tunisia as a privileged destination for pleasure tourism, said Monday, at the marina of Yasmine Hammamet, the Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, Moez Belhassine.
He underlined at the end of the 30th edition of this international cruise-race, that the ministry is working to develop a strategy to promote yachting tourism, especially since the Mediterranean has more than 300,000 yachts.
The objective is to increase the accommodation capacity in Tunisian marinas (currently 3,500 mooring rings) and to improve the infrastructure and services provided to yachtsmen, while paying particular attention to environmental aspects as well only to the development of legislation governing this activity, he announced.
And to remember in this context, that boaters spend about 20 times more than other tourists.
However, “the authorizations and measures in force are complex and even hinder the development of this sector which is of particular importance for tourism and the national economy”, he underlined.
Belhassine said “that a ministerial council will be held soon, to examine the means to promote pleasure tourism and enable it to become a real pillar of tourism and the national economy”.
“The development of the dilapidated infrastructure of certain marinas and its financing will be one of the main axes which will be discussed within the framework of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) or through financing and foreign investments, given the profitability of the sector”.
For his part, Borhen Dhaouadi, organizer of the Route du Jasmin on the Tunisian side and president of the Tunisian Smart Cities Association (TSC), recalled that this edition started at the beginning of August in Toulon (France), to arrive in mid- August in Bizerte, before casting off for Hammamet, the final destination of this cruise. It was marked by the participation of 25 boats and yachts, with on board nearly 100 sailors from France, Italy, England and Spain, in addition to the Tunisian participants.
He indicated that the TSC association, works in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism, to promote this event and attract more enthusiasts, adding that the objective is to attract around 5% of sailors in the Mediterranean, during the 10 next few years, compared to less than 1% currently.
“Achieving this objective will promote a 1.5% increase in GDP, which will have a positive impact on the economy and job creation since each mooring ring requires 10 direct and indirect jobs”.
Dhaouadi recommended developing the governance of marinas, by reducing the number of players currently estimated at 17, to create a unified structure which could be an “agency for the promotion of pleasure tourism” as well as simplifying procedures administrative rules governing the activity.
He announced that the Association will develop as part of the preparations for the 31st edition of the Route du Jasmin, a digital platform bringing together the various administrative services necessary for participation in this event.