SINGAPORE: Tunisian Airlines experienced a 20 percent decrease in passenger traffic over last year. The fall started in mid-January 2011 to the end April 2011 and came as a result of the unrest in the Middle East, said the company's CEO. Habib Ibn Salamah, Vice President of Business Affairs, said “most of the decline came from Europe, from which 80 percent of tourists came to visit Tunisia.” However Ibn Salamah was confident that airlines booking will recover by September 2011. Tunisia is struggling to restore the political and economical stability of the country after the abdication of its former president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Since the popular uprising in January 2011, manufacturing and service sectors have been disrupted. The tourism sector, one of the most important sources of income for Tunisia, is suffering as well. Tunisian Minister of Trade and Tourism Mehdi Hawas said his country needs 7-10 billion euro in aid to protect the economy. “Tunisia aimed at tripling its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in five years,” he added.
