Tunisia's Plea For Tourism A Year After Sousse

Tunisia's ambassador to the UK and Ireland has pleaded with tourists to return to his country, a year after a lone terrorist shot dead 38 people.

Nabil Ammar told Sky News that tourism from Britain and France was down by 90% since the attacks, but that other parts of the country's economy were also suffering badly as a result of the massacre.

Thirty Britons and three Irish citizens were among those killed when gunman Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on sunbathing tourists at the beach resort.

Mr Ammar said: "It has hurt the tourism sector very badly but not only the tourism sector, because after the travel ban has been put it's also all the sectors connected to the tourism in Tunisia that have been hurt in the country, unfortunately."

He said Tunisia needed international help to reverse the resulting decline in its economy.

"Since this is an international problem, it should be tackled with much more solidarity - international solidarity - and we expect from our partners not to create more problems for Tunisia but to help and to assist its economy to improve because a good economy in Tunisia is part of security for its neighbours, which is very important."

In the Foreign Office's (FCO) travel advice for Tunisia, last updated on 20 June, the threat of terrorism in the country is described as "high", with further attacks "highly likely".

Last year, the FCO tightened its outlook on the country, which remains under a state of emergency.

It advised against all travel to small parts of the country and against all but essential travel to the remainder.

It says that the UK government has been working closely with Tunisian officials but, despite good cooperation and additional security measures, they "do not believe the mitigation measures in place provide adequate protection for British tourists in Tunisia at the present time".

Mr Ammar said: "Tunisia is not the only country targeted (by terrorists) - so many countries closer to us have been hit but there's no travel ban on them.

"We completely understand that the priority for the UK government is to protect its own people, as it is for our own authorities to protect our guests in Tunisia.

"When (tourists) come and visit us, they're considered as guests and we want to take care of them.

"The problem is that today there is a gap we notice between the perception of security as it is outside Tunisia and the reality on the ground, and we need to tackle this gap.

"The message is to say: we are here, we are back. We are not going to let those who did horrible crimes claim victory at all."