Activists on social media circulated pictures, said to be of Algerian cars queuing, waiting to enter Tunisia at the border between the two countries.
These images sparked widespread controversy among users of social platforms, among those who said that they were evidence of Algerians waiting for the moment to announce the opening of the borders in order to enter Tunisia, which is their kiss every summer, and some of them said that Algeria witnessed that night a “mass flight,” as one of them put it.
And some of the comments stated, “Om Taboul border post between Tunisia and Algeria a while ago.”
But the pictures that show what appears to be a border point crowded with cars, according to the site “”In the balance of AFPPublished since 2019.
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The appearance of these photos and comments comes after the Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, announced a few days ago the decision to reopen the land border with neighboring Tunisia, which has been closed since 2020 with the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
Tebboune announced the decision when he bid farewell to Tunisian President Kais Saied, who attended the Independence Day celebrations on the fifth of last July. State television.
And the image circulating as newly taken from the border between the two countries is old, and it was previously published by news websites in 2019, accompanied by news of the seizure of smuggling between the two countries, “which denies that it is a recent image, as the misleading publications claimed,” says AFP.
The allegations of the publishers of these photos were also refuted by Algerian pages interested in the tourism issue, which published photos that they said were the latest and depict the opposite of what was circulated, accompanied by a comment: “A modest influx of travelers at the Umm Taboul crossing on the first day of the decision to reopen the land border with Tunisia.” .
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The Tunisian authorities consider the “Malloula” border crossing in Tabarka to be the most important, and in 2019 about 25% of the total arrivals from Algeria to Tunisia crossed it.
A large sign was placed at the crossing reading “Long live the Algerian-Tunisian brotherhood.”
In 2019, about three million Algerians visited Tunisia, who came for tourism and treatment, as well as to visit their relatives and families.
Contrary to expectations and what is being promoted, a weak turnout for Tunisia ???????? by the Algerians ???????? and a modest influx of travelers at the Umm Al-Daboul crossing in…
Posted by Ghardaia News on Friday, July 15, 2022
In the same year, Tunisian tourism recorded a remarkable movement following a stagnation that lasted for years. Algerians constituted a third of the incoming tourists, and their number reached nearly nine million. Between 16 and 17 thousand Algerians crossed from “Malloula” daily.
Algerian tourists often go to tourist areas such as Sousse, Hammamet (east) and Kairouan (central).
The land border between the two countries has been closed since 2020, and only emergency cases were allowed to cross.
The Tunisian authorities are working to remedy the losses of the tourism sector as a result of the closure decisions to combat Covid-19 during the past two seasons.
It will also be difficult for the country to count on Russian tourists after the Russian-Ukrainian war.