Tunisia Seeking Return of Russian Tourists After 2015 Drop in Arrivals

Tunisia expects Russian tourists` return after severe decrease in the number of arrivals in 2015 amid security crisis, Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova — Tunisia is seeking Russian tourists to return to the African country after the number of tourist arrivals decreased in 2015 due to security reasons, Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui told Sputnik.

"We would like to invite our Russian friends to come back to Tunisia. The number of the Russian tourists substantially decreased last year due to the security reasons," Jhinaoui said.

On Monday, Jhinaoui held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Following the meeting, Lavrov said that Moscow and Tunis were currently discussing the possibility of equipping Tunisia’s anti-terrorist special forces with Russian equipment.

"We would like to increase this cooperation [on combating terrorism] because both countries are facing the same threat but also we would like to work closely with our friends here," the Tunisian top diplomat added.

Following the talks with Lavrov, Jhinaoui said that Tunisia was interested in using Russia’s experience in combating terrorism and was grateful to Russia for the fight against terrorism.

Tunisia is on high security alert after a series of terrorist attacks in 2015. According to Russia’s Association of Tour Operators, Russian tourist flow to Tunisia dropped by 80 percent in 2015, with a total of 50,000 Russian nationals visiting the country.