A tourist on holiday in Sousse when dozens of fellow Britons were murdered has said his travel agent "pushed" him into visiting Tunisia.

Paul Thompson said he and his wife were told by a Thomson travel agent that the country was "100% safe".

But as they holidayed in the beach resort, Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel killing 38 tourists, including 30 Britons.

Image: The Sousse attack came just weeks after one at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis

The inquests into the deaths of the Britons heard that Mr Thompson and his wife had visited their Thomson travel agent in Ilkeston on 5 May.

This was just weeks after 24 people were killed in an attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunisia's capital Tunis.


He said he and his wife had gone into the travel agents to talk about changing their planned holiday in Greece to a different destination.

"We originally wanted Egypt but the agent pushed for Tunisia," Mr Thompson told the inquest.

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He said in his statement that there were "special deals on in Tunisia at that time" meaning he could get an all inclusive deal in a five star hotel.

Mr Thompson said his wife Zoe mentioned the Bardo attack to the travel agent and said they were told it was a "one-off".

"In fact, one of the travel agents there likened it to 'If something happened in London, would that stop you from going to Skegness?'"

Tunisia beach attack footage played at inquest

But Amy Smallman, assistant manager of the Thomson travel agents in Ilkeston, denied assuring the Thompsons that their Tunisian holiday would be "100% safe".

She said: "I wouldn't say that to somebody.

"It's not 100% safe to walk out your front door."

When asked if she had been "pushing" Tunisia as a destination, she said: "No, not at all.

"It's just not something that we're told to do. We're not told to push a certain destination because it's struggling," she said.

Image: John Stollery, 58, a social worker from Nottinghamshire

Cheryl Stollery, wife of victim John Stollery, booked their holiday before the Bardo attack and said that she would have expected to be told of any relevant information.

She said: "I felt confident that if there was anything I needed to know then that information would be shared with me."

Mrs Stollery added that she was not advised to check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's travel advice.