Friday, 20 March 2015

People Worldwide Are Pledging To Visit Tunisia After Brutal Museum Attack

As Tunisia mourns the victims of the deadly attack on the National Bardo Museum on Wednesday, many have expressed fears that the assault may have a devastating impact on the country's resurgent tourism industry. But people around the world have responded to those fears with a resilient message, pledging to travel to the North African nation this summer.

Twenty-three people died in Wednesday's attack on the museum, including at least 18 foreign tourists and two gunmen, the Associated Press reported. About 50 people were injured. Tunisian security officials arrested nine people in connection with the attack, for which the militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday.

Tunisia's tourism industry -- which employs 472,000 people and makes up 15.2 percent of the country's GDP, according to the Guardian -- had been seeing improvement since taking a hit after the start of the Arab Spring in 2011. Now many fear that tourists will remain home in the wake of the attack.

"That's it for Tunisia, that's it for tourism," one museum guide told French newspaper Libération following the attacks.

But tourists refuse to be cowed by the attacks. People from all over the world are pledging, by selfie, to visit Tunisia this summer, tagging their pictures with #JeSuisBardo and #SelfiesTunisie.

Of course, as the BBC notes, posting a picture on Instagram is not the same as booking flights. But it's a start.

See some of the images, below:











































Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/20/tunisia-tourism-pledge_n_6909422.html?utm_hp_ref=travel&ir=Travel and provided by entertainment-movie-news.com

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