Tunisia's Dignity at Stake: The Algerian Tourist Invasion

Wednesday 16 April 2025 - 17:20

By: Dakir Madiha

Tunisia's Dignity at Stake: The Algerian Tourist Invasion

The Tunisian Republic appears to be stripping itself of its last vestiges of dignity, rolling out a red carpet for impoverished Algerian tourists, who arrive from a land marked by shortages and chaos. Their entrance into Tunisia is celebrated by official media and customs officials as a "stunning victory," despite the accompanying disorder and arrogance.

Official statements add another layer of absurdity. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, speaking with a lifeless eloquence, claims that tourism requires a flexible backbone to accommodate foreign visitors. However, he refers not to Europe or Asia, but to Tunisia, which continues to bow to the whims of low-cost Algerian tourism. This influx yields little benefit, instead bringing complaints from hotels about property damage, reports of sexual harassment, police calls over disturbances, thefts at pharmacies, and noisy disputes in markets.

In 2024, three and a half million Algerians descended upon Tunisia, not to explore its culture or boost its economy, but to leave behind litter, used condoms, and a lawless mentality, as if participating in a chaotic fair devoid of any rules.

Tunisia welcomes these visitors as if they were a source of strong currency, yet they instead represent a heavy burden on the country's economy, image, and reputation. The current Tunisian regime seems indifferent to dignity. President Kaïs Saïed, with his hollow speeches and vacant gaze, has surrendered the nation to malevolent neighbors, accepting the role of a "silent host" reluctant to demand respect from his guests.

The privileges extended to Algerian tourists in Tunisia are nauseating: tax exemptions, preferential treatment at borders, and total impunity. It appears they operate above the law, transforming Tunisia into a free vacation destination for money laundering and a "disgrace to national dignity." Meanwhile, ordinary Tunisians face unemployment, soaring prices, and declining services, watching their country being consumed like a cheap prostitute by an ungrateful neighbor, who responds with contempt, interference, and even financing mercenaries.

Reports suggest thousands of Polisario fighters, financed by Algeria, are present on Tunisian soil, inciting social unrest.

Thus, Tunisia has become the backyard playground for the fantasies of the Algerian military regime, reduced to a mere pawn on a chessboard where Kaïs Saïed represents only emptiness—an overlooked piece manipulated by generals who have placed Tebboune as a cardboard front, viewing Tunisia as merely a geographical extension.

And Kaïs, the naïve, is satisfied with his fate, as long as no one asks why national sovereignty is being trampled.

As for the Algerians in Tunisia, their scandals continue to pile up: sexual harassment, destruction of hotel property, fraudulent billing, drug and alcohol trafficking, and compromising nighttime videos proliferating on social media. Yet, official media remain silent, treating the Algerian tourist as untouchable.

This is the current state of the new Tunisia: a bending state, an outraged people, and jubilant Algerian tourists reveling on the ruins of dignity, while Kaïs Saïed reads the Constitution like a collection of poetry, and Tebboune imparts tourism lessons as if he has a diploma from a Swiss institute. It is a scenario worthy of a film: "Tunisia – Algeria: an endless dark comedy."