Coronavirus: Tunisia’s battered tourism sector pins hopes on unfazed Russians

While many Western visitors are avoiding travel, those from Russia, the Czech Republic and Poland appear to have few such qualms

Up to 10 flights a week have been flying in mostly from Russia and eastern Europe after the borders opened in April

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Tourists sunbathe at a hotel in the Tunisia. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:00pm, 26 May 2021Updated: 4:00pm, 26 May 2021

With its economy hit hard by the pandemic, Tunisia is counting on Russians and eastern Europeans to salvage its tourism sector whose employees fear hunger more than Covid-19.

“The need to work is stronger than the fear of being contaminated,” said lifeguard Aymen Abdallah, glancing at a half-empty beach in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse where Russians are making a comeback.

“If we don’t work, we’ll starve to death,” added Abdallah, donning sunglasses and a mask.

The lifeguard is relieved to be back at work after an idle eight months. But “normally, the beach would have been full at this time”, he sighed.

The North African country reopened its borders to tour operators in late April but then ordered a new week-long partial lockdown at the start of May because of a spike in coronavirus cases.

Tunisian health workers monitor European tourists upon their arrival at Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport. Photo: AFP

Up to 10 flights a week, mostly from Russia and eastern Europe, have in the past month been touching down at Enfidha, an airport serving Tunisia’s tourism towns.