Sousse (Tunisia) (AFP)
"The need to work is stronger than the fear of being contaminated", confides Aymen Abdallah, watching a fine sandy beach almost deserted in Sousse, a Tunisian seaside resort where only Russian tourists have started to disembark, in full confinement.
Stuck in the social crisis, Tunisia is trying to save what can be saved from a tourist season that promises to be weighed down - one more - by the poor health situation.
"If we don't work, we'll starve," Aymen emphasizes, wearing sunglasses and mask.
This 30-year-old lifeguard is relieved to be back after eight months without a job in an industry that has endured storms for a decade.
On April 29, the country reopened its borders to tour operators, which transport the majority of holidaymakers staying in Tunisia.
However, deaths linked to Covid-19 had just reached a peak, and the increase in hospitalizations raised fears of an oxygen shortage, to the point that the country declared a new one-week confinement in early May.
Since then, up to ten flights per week land at Enfidha airport, which serves tourist towns like Hammamet and Sousse, mainly from Russia and Eastern Europe.
Usually marginal compared to the Western European contingents, this clientele had already played the lifeline after the 2015 attacks at the Bardo museum and in Sousse (60 dead including 59 tourists), which brought this crucial sector to its knees. economy.
But we are still a long way from the mark: overall revenues have fallen by 54% compared to the same period last year, yet already marked by the pandemic.
The difference is more than 60% compared to 2019, with 144 million euros as of May 10, against 404 million euros two years ago.
- "It's empty" -
"Usually, the whole beach is full, there it is empty", abounds Aymen.
Hotels are only allowed to operate at 50% of their capacity, and are struggling to reach this level.
"With a hotel occupancy of only 30%, there is no gain," laments Adel Mlayah, deputy director of the Mouradi Palace.
The hotel, which typically hires 260 to 270 employees, only hired 110 to 120 this year.
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While some Western European countries have implemented travel restrictions, Russian, Czech and Polish tourists are ignoring the pandemic.
"There are not that many countries where we can go. Turkey has closed its borders, which is why we chose Tunisia," said Andrej Radiokove, who arrived from Moscow.
He is not vaccinated, like most of his traveling companions, but "we had the Covid two months ago, we are not afraid," he explains.
Tunisia begins this season with more than 12,000 deaths, out of a population of 12 million inhabitants - but holidaymakers seem little aware of the health situation.
- "Less observant" -
Near the Mouradi swimming pool, a handful of them sway to the rhythm of Russian electronic music, galvanized by three entertainers.
"Customers from Eastern Europe are less reluctant, less careful about controlling the pandemic," confirms Zied Maghrebi, marketing director of the neighboring Movenpick hotel.
"We have chosen these clients because they are not afraid to travel."
"The (health) restrictions are not as strict as in other countries," says Serafim Stoynovski, a Bulgarian law student.
"We chose Tunisia for these reasons. You can go out for a walk, go to a restaurant or drink a coffee as you like."
Unlike other travelers, subjected to isolation for five to seven days at their own expense, tourists traveling via tour operators only need to present a negative PCR test.
Their outings are nevertheless supervised.
"They can take part in excursions, but they are organized (...) by the hotel's travel agencies so that they respect the sanitary protocol", underlines the regional commissioner of tourism of Sousse, Taoufik Gaied.
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The only hope to return to a wider attendance: vaccination, which is advancing in Europe but remains in its infancy in Tunisia, where about 2% of the population is vaccinated.
"We cling to all hope," said Gaied, who hopes to see a million tourists arrive this year, up from nine million in 2019.
© 2021 AFP