TUNIS, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreign tourists to Tunisia during the first half of 2017 increased by 29.3 percent compared with the same period of 2016, with more than 2.5 million visitors to the country, according to the Tunisian Federation of Hotels (TFH) on Wednesday.
"This performance is primarily due to the restoration of growth in the various European issuing markets," said Mouna Ben Halima, the TFH general secretary.
According to Ben Halima, European tourists visiting Tunisia could rise by 30 percent in 2017 to 2 million compared with 1.5 million in 2016.
The Maghreb countries, mainly Algeria and Libya, remain the top source of tourists to Tunisia with a 44.7 percent increase or 1,413,502 tourists, according to the TFH.
Among them, Algeria provided 766,383 tourists, the equivalent of a 61.2 percent increase, followed by Libya with 619,662 visitors, or 30.6 percent of growth.
In addition, Tunisia saw 100 percent growth in the Belgian market with 17,807 tourists. However, the number of Russian visitors dropped by 20 percent compared to the first half of 2016.
