Tunisia tourism revenue hit hard by last year's attacks

TUNIS: Tunisia's central bank said onThursday tourism revenue in first two months in 2016 fell by 54percent to 182 million dinars ($90.21 million) compared with the

same period of 2015.

The decline follows two major attacks by Islamist milinatslast year that targeted the industry and killed dozens offoreigners.

The tourism revenue in 2015 as a whole fell by 35 percent to2.35 billion dinar ($1.15 billion)

Tunisia for which foreign tourism is an importantcontributor to gross domestic product has been under a state ofemergency since last year's attacks claimed by Islamic state.

Tourism industry accounts for some 7 percent of Tunisia'sGDP.

Thirty-eight people were killed by a gunman at a hotel inSousse on the Mediterranean coast in June three months after 21tourists were killed by gunmen attacking the Bardo NationalMuseum in the capital Tunis.

Reuters