Towards Sustainable Development in Eco-based Tourism Destination: The Northwest of Tunisia

Chemli Samiha

doi:10.4172/2162-6359.1000317

Abstract

This paper focuses on future sustainable and responsible tourism products in the Northwest of Tunisia and the non-developed, naturally and historically rich zone of the mountain of Jendouba and its 13 villages (douars). The latter can be considered as a big potential for the country to move to a new era of tourism. The methodology used consists of three stages: to diagnose the selected regions’ potentials, then to conduct a benchmarking evaluation of similar international regions according to specific factors such as positioning strategies applied in the latter, finally, to pinpoint the adequate strategies to be implemented in the Northwest of Tunisia. The main results conclude that although Tunisia is perceived as a cheap seaside tourism destination, an in-depth diagnosis of the country, which starts with a simple global observation of the Tunisian map, results on several issues leading to structured tourism, new types of tourists’ arrivals to the country looking for alternative tourism products and the impending wealth raise of the selected zones.

Highlights

The overall positioning of Tunisia has been identified in several research studies as being a cheap sea sun and sand tourism destination [1]
This paper focuses on future sustainable and responsible tourism products in the region of the mountain of Jendouba in the Northern part of Tunisia, as a big potential for the country to move to a new era of tourism
The study concludes with several issues leading to structured tourism, new types of tourists’ arrival to the country and the self raising of wealth of the zone studied

Summary

Introduction

The overall positioning of Tunisia has been identified in several research studies as being a cheap sea sun and sand tourism destination [1]. Despite the seaside tourism and some niche tourism products such as Sahara tourism, medical tourism and culture tourism in coastal developed zones, the country features a rich heritage in terms of nature, archaeology and culture. These resources, which represent the future potential of Tunisia as a tourism destination, are spread over northern coastal zones, border areas and mountainous central villages, which are almost totally neglected both by the Government and the private investors. This paper focuses on future sustainable and responsible tourism products in the region of the mountain of Jendouba in the Northern part of Tunisia, as a big potential for the country to move to a new era of tourism. The main reasons behind such research are to stimulate the economy in interior regions, to achieve a regional balance leading to equilibrium in terms of jobs creation, a better governance of human and natural resources, social equality, implementing a positioning based on differentiating the zone as a unique destination on its own rights compared to the neighbouring zones, and the most important attracting new types of tourists to the country

Methods

Results

Conclusion