Wadi bin Soleiman taps at his mobile phone. He's sitting on his chair, inside his ceramics store in the historic old city of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. The market is usually a focal point for tourists. But it's shortly before midday and bin Soleiman has yet to get a single customer.
Like so many other Tunisians involved in the tourism sector, bin Soleiman is fighting for financial survival. The COVID-19 pandemic has virtually brought international tourism, which employs an estimated 10% of the population here, to a standstill. In 2020, tourist numbers plummeted by almost 80%.
In order to keep his business going, bin Soleiman has had to use his savings. He's been in the business since 1969, so long that he doesn't want to simply give up. He has his own workshop that manufactures the ceramics he sells. He sees keeping the business afloat as a way to honor the memory of his father, who died in 2018. The elder man had run the business for almost 50 years.
Insecurity rules Business hasn't been easy ever since the Tunisian revolution in 2011, bin Soleiman told DW. And after Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended the country's parliament for 30 days, around a week ago, those feelings of insecurity have grown again. Bin Soleiman says he has absolutely no idea what will happen to Tunisia's all-important tourism sector now, faced with this latest political unrest in addition to the ongoing health crisis.
"This crisis started when my father was still alive," bin Soleiman said, referring to the Arab Spring-era revolution of 2011 that toppled Tunisia's dictatorship. "Then in 2015, there were terrorist attacks on tourists on the Tunisian coast and this too had a bad impact on our business. And now we have the pandemic, so we are fighting to survive once again."
"I'm trying to see if I can earn money from other areas," he explained. "I have two employees and both are married with children to support. I can't let them go. We are all looking into the future together and we all have to make sacrifices."
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