Interior minister says country hit by 2015 shooting attack is no more threatened by terrorism than any major European city

Tunisia’s interior minister has urged British tourists to return to the country as he expressed hopes the UK will review its travel advice, saying it is no more threatened by terrorism than any major European city.

The Foreign Office warned against all but essential travel to the country following a June 2015 attack in the resort of Sousse in which 30 British tourists and eight others were killed by a gunman with links to Islamic State.

Hédi Majdoub said he was not demanding but hoping that the advice would be changed and was meeting UK officials to discuss security cooperation.

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He told the Guardian: “Do you think governments are not under threat in Paris, Brussels and Istanbul? The threat exists everywhere. The question is: do you trust the Tunisians or not?

“We are not saying to Europeans: ‘Please come to Tunisia; there are no threats.’ There are threats, as there are all round the world. But we are ready to cooperate continuously on any security issue to assure the British and to ameliorate the situation, and build their confidence in us.”

With unemployment in Tunisia running at more than 14%, the UK travel advice has had devastating economic consequences. Travel agencies follow Foreign Office advice, and the few British travelling independently to the country find insurance harder to buy.

More than 440,000 British tourists travelled annually to Tunisian beaches and archeological sites before the Sousse attack but in its aftermath there has been a 90% fall.

Thomas Cook has announced it will not sell packages to Tunisia until May next year at the earliest and calls last week in the Lords for the UK to change its travel advice were rejected by the government.



Majdoub is in London to meet transport ministers, Foreign Office officials and the home secretary, Amber Rudd, and to strengthen cooperation with the UK security services. “It is not just a question of us demanding the Foreign Office change their travel advice, it is also about building back confidence,” he said.

Tunisia, the last surviving democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring, suffers high unemployment, corruption and levels of inequality that leave the country prey to a further uglier revolution. The high level of graduate unemployment is a special worry because studies of court records show that well-educated Tunisians form the backbone of homegrown jihadi groups.



Majdoub said the focus was on trying to deepen security co-operation, including the exchange of information and training, particularly at a time when Tunisians may be returning to their birthplace after fighting with Isis in Syria or Libya.

Inquests into the deaths are due next year with some evidence held in camera to keep subsequent counter-terror measures secret. The gunman was trained by Isis at a site in neighbouring Libya.



The level of interdependence between Libyan and Tunisian jihadis is striking, and policing a porous border has required US-supplied drones

“Since the attacks in 2015 we have revisited our whole way of thinking,” Majdoub said. “We have changed the strategy and decided the best way to combat terrorism is not remain on the defensive and instead to be aggressive and proactive. We have restructured our intelligence department. There has been a whole plan for tourist security in towns and hotels.

“This year, so far, we have had a whole tourist season without any problems but we need to need to continue to work because the road is long. Yes it is true we have successes, but I would prefer to focus on what we still have to do. In this field you never reach the summit.”

Whitehall has considered a phased relaxation of the Tunisia travel advice. Many other countries do not issue the same blanket warnings, and the flow of less free-spending tourists from Russia has risen this year.

Critics of the Tunisian government claim its economic problems lie outside tourism, which makes up 8% of the Tunisian economy. But others claim this figure is underestimated, and misunderstands how perceptions of the country can act as a multiplier for overseas investment.

With help from France and some Gulf states, the government is seeking overseas infrastructure investment with conferences designed to attract cash into the private sector that can create jobs and lift the country out of poverty.