What's going on in Tunisia? For whom is the black PR direction beneficial?

The first “information wave of negativity” about Tunisia took place in July, it was associated with the alleged “disappearance in Tunisia of a family from the Leningrad region.”

 

Fake “news” without surnames, names of resorts and a hotel, where “residents of the Vyborg district”, brands of the airline and tour operator allegedly went, was picked up by the media, sounding it with screaming headlines.

 

If the citizens of the Russian Federation really disappeared in Tunisia, the comments of the Russian Foreign Ministry and other official bodies would certainly appear. Dmitry Glukhov, Vice-Consul of the Russian Embassy in Tunisia: “No large-scale mass incidents involving Russian citizens have been recorded in Tunisia this year.”

 

The scandal with the “disappearance of tourists” was a classic fake, this was determined by regional journalists. The family of Russians from Kamenka in Tunisia did not disappear, and did not go anywhere.

 

The next wave of negative news about Tunisia began in the media on the 20th of July and continued until the onset of August – with the message that Russians seem to “refuse to rest in Tunisia.” As arguments, the alleged facts about the “difficult sanitary situation and the terrorist threat” were cited (despite the fact that Europeans, who are distinguished by caution, went to the country en masse).

 

Anonymous and invented "experts" appeared - faceless characters: "gastroenterologist" or "expert of Moscow State University", who recommended "not to visit deserted places in Tunisia and not to go to night discos."

 

In August, publications with a solid reputation began publishing materials in which it was stated (without figures and facts) that “Tunisia is leaving the tourist market of Russia”, and tour operators “massively curtail and cancel their flight programs in the direction”. Customers of the information campaign may be counting on reprints with reference to an authoritative source.

 

Tunisian official statistics show that the number of travelers from Russia in the first 7 months of this year (from January to July inclusive) increased by 42% compared to the same period in 2017, reaching a figure of 338,000.

 

In June, 120,000 Russian tourists visited Tunisia (an increase of +46% compared to June 2017), in July - 116,000 people (an increase of +31% compared to July 2017). It is noticeable that Tunisia as a direction in the Russian market is growing and is not going anywhere.

 

In January-July, the total number of foreigners in Tunisia increased by 23% to 4.36 million. Russians in terms of the number of visits to Tunisia among all foreign markets in second place, our compatriots were ahead of only the French.

 

Experts of the tourism industry of Tunisia believe that in 2018 the resorts of the country will receive at least 8 million foreign tourists, including more than 600 thousand Russians.

 

Some media outlets cite reports about the reduction of flight programs of tour operators in August-September as “arguments” on the topic “Tunisia is unpopular”.

 

Flight program adjustments often occur in the tour operator business, they occur due to the general market oversupply of transportation to resorts. There is a technical need for optimization by the air carrier.

 

Optimization lies in the fact that if charters are removed or reduced from city N, then there is no demand for a product in a particular city or a high-capacity aircraft is not needed. And tomorrow, this aircraft taken from City N will expand the flight program from another city.

 

Leading tour operators report that the campaign of “black PR” did not affect the demand for the direction. The main category of tourists to Tunisia is families with children, and the resorts of the country are in the TOP of popular destinations in the outbound market and demonstrate a positive dynamics of sales in the season: from 5% to 20% in annual terms.

 

Velvet season in Tunisia, despite media stuffing, will be held with Russian tourists who choose resorts for a mild climate, warm sea and affordable rest.

 

Who needs black PR direction? It is unlikely to be possible to find a customer, but it is clear that the ineptitude of stuffing and their exposure, the recruitment of “media” and other facts show that the executors of the campaign were commercial structures that are far from tourism and PR.

 

According to information: atorus