A gunman massacred tourists on a beach. Ten years later, they're coming back
On a hot June day in 2015, a man dressed in black walked along the beach outside the five-star Imperial Marhaba hotel in Sousse. It was almost noon, peak sunbathing time, and he was carrying a parasol. Nobody paid him much attention.
Over the next 30 minutes, Seifeddine Rezgui rampaged with the Kalashnikov assault rifle that had been hidden in the parasol, shooting indiscriminately into crowds of tourists and anyone who crossed his path.
By the time he was killed by Tunisian security forces, 23-year-old Rezgui had murdered 38 people and left another 39 wounded. Of the dead, 30 were British.
It was the biggest loss of British life to terrorism since the 7/7 bombings in London in July 2005. For Tunisians and the tourism they rely on, it was devastating.
'The attack fully destroyed it as a destination. All the airlines pulled out, nobody wanted to go,' Nicholas Smith, Holidays Digital Director at Thomas Cook and eSky Group, tells Metro.
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Before Sousse, tourism accounted for around 14% of Tunisia's GDP, employing almost half a million people from a population of 11 million.
Confidence in the sector had been shaken three months before, when two Tunisian suicide attackers killed 22 tourists at the Bardo museum in the capital, Tunis. After the massacre in Sousse, a resort town where 90% of residents worked in tourism, directly or indirectly, it collapsed.
Tour operators across the UK, Ireland and Europe suspended charters, spelling the end of Tunisia as a package holiday destination for years. After the Foreign Office advised against travel, hotels and restaurants that relied on footfall from foreigners were forced to close, and local heroes who formed human shields to save guests from Rezgui's bullets lost their jobs. The town, residents said, felt like it was dying.
'Everyone had a hard time,' says content creator Hamza Jabri, 33. 'Some started selling things on the street, others had to get help from their family or their neighbours. People had to find new ways to support themselves.'
In 2014, the year before the attacks, 430,000 British tourists visited Tunisia. In 2017, there were 28,000. It was almost three years after Rezgui opened fire before travel operators cautiously returned.
While the Tunisian government provided support payments and training to help the unemployed find new jobs, Covid dealt a double blow to a region already on its knees.
'It was a tough time, but people did their best to keep going,' Hamza says, resolutely.
And today, against the odds, the future looks bright. Flights have resumed, and budget behemoths like easyJet are luring budget-conscious travellers with attractively priced packages.
Luxury is accessible, with five-star hotels offering rooms for a fraction of the price you'd pay in Greece or Turkey. https://www.instagram.com/p/DGLv3mduKQk/
In 2024, Tunisia welcomed 10.25 million visitors; put in context, Morocco saw 17 million and Egypt 15.7 million.
Like it does for dozens of countries, the Foreign Office still advises against travel to parts of Tunisia (mostly near the border with Libya). However, British officials say the country has made huge progress in counter-terrorism since the 2015 attacks, and Nicholas has seen proof in holiday spots such as Djerba, Sousse and Port El Kantaoui.
'The tourism board has done a lot to repair its image,' he says. 'They've spent a lot of money to make guests feel safe.' More Trending
Most of that investment has been on security. But do people want to holiday in a place swarming with armed security and gendarmerie on jet skis patrolling the shore?
'Look, there's been a push for visible security, and there is some, but it's subtle,' says Smith. 'You can still get out and about, you're not locked up in a resort.'
Tunisia clocked a record start to 2025, with a surge in year-on-year visitors from January to April, and Tunisians are thrilled to see them returning.
'Tourism is not just coming back, it's evolving,' says Hamza. 'I see more people returning every year, and now they're looking for authentic experiences, not just beach holidays.'
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