Official: Algerians Now Exempted From Tunisia Tourist Tax

Good news for those Algerians used to visit neighboring Tunisia. They are not concerned anymore with the imposition of a fee of 30 Tunisian dinars (1 euro = 0.4 DT) required from a nonresident foreigner as he leaves the Tunisian territory.

This official announcement by the relevant Tunisian authorities in a period marked by the presence of hundreds of thousands of Algerians now on vacation in Tunisia was well received not only by them but also by tourism professionals. 

The implementation of this personal tax under section 36 of the Supplementary Finance Act adopted on 7 August by the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly (ANC) was scheduled for August 28 before being adjourned to October 1st. Since then, foreigners leaving the country had to pay the 30 DT in the form of a stamp and under the term “solidarity stamp”.

The surprise is that Algerian citizens are not affected by this measure any longer, as noted by the correspondent of the newspaper Echorouk on site. The adoption of this tax has of late touched off an outcry from many eastern-based Algerian citizens and from the tourism professionals themselves who believe that such a decision “is  very harmful to the brand-image of the Tunisia destination and may be poorly assimilated by foreign visitors”. 

However, road passengers had to pay a 30 DT stamp for their entry into Tunisia regardless of the number of vehicle occupants. To recall, this tax was increased tenfold as it did not exceed previously three Tunisian Dinars.

 In this regard, it should be recalled that the Tunisian Minister of Tourism, Mr. Amel Karboul posed as a lawyer for Algerian tourists stating, in August, that the tax will not be required from Algerian visitors before being contradicted shortly afterwards by the Tunisian Ministry of Finance. 

This official was not the only one to defend the numerous Algerian tourists. The Confederation of Tunisian Corporate Citizens (Conect) believes that “Algerian tourists are very important to us because they are part of our economy and the imposition of this measure could discourage them from further visiting Tunisia (…)”. 

Finally, it seems that the Tunisian government eventually toed the general line to this effect by finally scrapping this much-controversial tax. In the same context, the President of the Islamist party Ennahda, Rachid Ghannouchi, called a few days ago, on the Tunisian authorities to take such a decision in favor of citizens of all Maghrebian countries. 

For his part, the Tunisian Ambassador to Algiers announced that the Algerians would not pay this tax before 2015, buttressed in this by the representative of the Office of Tunisian tourism based in Algiers.

To recall, the Algerian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, declared on 17 September 2016, Algeria’s intention to impose a similar tax on the Tunisians visiting Algeria, on the basis of reciprocity in the aftermath of the bitter expostulations from numerous Algerian citizens settled notably in the eastern regions of the country.

As for the financial contribution of this tax to the Treasury of Tunisia, it amounted to € 17.5 million in 2014 and € 52 million for the year 2015. 

This is significant in view of the constraining economic situation now plaguing Tunisia. On the Algerian side, the tax, if imposed on them, would bring the Tunisian Treasury 12 million Euros per year in the sense that, year in, year out, the number varies between 900 000 and one million Algerian tourists visiting Tunisia. This tax replaced the 2 DT per night applied on overnight stays in Tunisian hotels.