Thomas Cook resumes flights to Tunisia after Sousse attack

The tour operator started selling holidays to Tunisia after the Government changed its travel advice on the North African country.

Tuesday 13 February 2018 09:40, UK

Tourists enjoy the beach on June 25, 2016 in Sousse, Tunisia.
Image: The FCO is no longer advising against travel to most of Tunisia
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Tour operator Thomas Cook is taking British tourists back to Tunisia from today for the first time since the Sousse massacre.

Thirty-eight tourists, including 30 Britons, were killed in June 2015 when gunman Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel.

Tourists and Tunisians take part in a ceremony on July 3, 2015, in memory of those killed the previous week by a jihadist gunman in front of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port el Kantaoui, on the outskirts of Sousse south of the capital Tunis. Tunisia has arrested eight people in connection with last week's jihadist massacre at the seaside resort, as the remains of more slain Britons were flown home on July 2
Image: Thirty Britons were killed when a gunman shot people on the beach and in hotel grounds

Thomas Cook said its flight and holiday programme will begin with three weekly flights to Enfidha from Manchester, London Gatwick and Birmingham.

This will expand to include Glasgow from April and Newcastle and London Stansted from May.

It comes after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) eased its travel advice last summer for the capital Tunis and major tourist resorts in the North African country.

But it continues to caution against "all travel" and "all but essential travel" to some areas of the country, including those closer to the Libyan border, warning that "terrorists are still very likely to try to carry out attacks in Tunisia".

Thomas Cook resumed holiday sales to UK customers in August 2017, with managing director Chris Mottershead saying: "Tunisia has been a popular destination for decades and with our first three flights sold out, there is an appetite from our customers".

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Seifeddine Rezgui carried out the attack
Image: Seifeddine Rezgui carried out the attack

It did not stop selling holidays to French, German and Belgian tourists after the Sousse attack as their governments did not advise their citizens against travelling to Tunisia.

In 2014, some 440,000 people from the UK visited Tunisia, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Demand also went up the year before the Sousse attack.

The Islamic State terror group said it was behind Rezgui's massacre.

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