Destinationsutveckling under politisk kris En fallstudie om Tunisien 2011

The authors have during the spring semester 2011 studied the subject destination development during a political crisis, focusing on Tunisia. At the beginning of 2011 the country was in an uncertain political situation when the revolution of the Tunisian people occurred. This created massive demonstrations on the streets, and resulted in the current government's resignation. More effects of the revolution has been seen in a drastic decline of inbound tourists in the country, which in turn affected the country's population and economy. From this point on Tunisia as a destination needs to recover to once again become attractive to tourists. Further revolutions in neighboring countries such as Libya, have contributed to the tourists' reluctance to travel to Tunisia. From this point of view, the tourist operators stand in front of a challenge in how they best can highlight the destination, and the positive impacts the revolution has contributed with. The purpose of this paper is from a destination development perspective examine how organizations in Sweden work to regain tourists to Tunisia after a period of decline. To answer this purpose, the authors use of these following questions: How have the revolution of the people in the spring of 2011 affected the tourism industry in Tunisia? How do the various tourist operators in Sweden relate to the revolution of the people in Tunisia 2011? Could it be that this revolution in spite of demonstrations and unrest contributes to something positive for the tourism industry in Tunisia? The methodology used in this paper is qualitative in nature, where a number of respondents in Sweden were interviewed to seek answers to selected questions. A constructivist approach was applied in which reality is seen as constantly changing and is created by ongoing processes that change over time. Destination Development, image and recovery are the key concepts covered in the theoretical framework. Destinations may occur at various stages in its life cycle. This is to portray how a destination can evolve to stagnation and at worst die out. Tunisia is in a phase of decline after the revolution in which people are waiting for tourists to return to the country. The results of the survey show that the revolution in 2011 has affected the tourism industry in that it has contributed to a decline of inbound tourists. The country´s image has been affected and there is now a challenge for organizations in Sweden to improve this image to regain to