Rattled European tourists rush home from Tunisia

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

LONDON (AP) — European travel companies rushed Saturday to retrieve thousands of tourists on package tours to Tunisia after widespread protests toppled the North African nation's longtime president and brought chaos to some cities.

Tour companies in Britain and Germany started the airlift process, sending planes to Tunisia to bring back tourists anxious to return home. The French national travel agency association, CETO, said French tour operators planned to evacuate tourists shortly and urged people planning trips to Tunisia in the next few days to cancel their plans and change their tickets.

Tunisia in recent years has become a popular sun-and-sand destination for Europeans looking to escape wintry weather, and the uprising there caught tour operators by surprise after a sustained period of stability.

More than 1,000 tourists arrived back in Britain on Saturday after being evacuated from Tunisia, with several hundred more expected to arrive on special flights Sunday.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-15/frightened-uk-tourists-evacuated-from-tunisia.html

[jannyk]

1. "Recent Years"??

My first Honeymoon was from the UK to Sousse, Tunisia on a two week Thompson's package deal in 1973 - it was already a major European destination mecca by then, roughly 14 years before he toppled Habib Bourgiba! Sousse, Hammamet, Djerba, Monastir all had a touch of 'Cancun' about them even in the '70's!


<<Tunisia in recent years has become a popular sun-and-sand destination for Europeans looking to escape wintry weather, and the uprising there caught tour operators by surprise after a sustained period of stability.>>