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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you travel to Tunisia?

53 replies

Pinkbutton85 · 17/05/2019 06:26

Just that really! Looking to go away in the next couple of weeks for 14 nights.

Tunisia is SO cheap atm. £1500 for a 5* hotel, all inclusive with a sandy path from the pool to the sea!

But.. obviously it's so cheap because of the horrific attack...

OP posts:
Shoxfordian · 17/05/2019 06:27

Its fine
Terrorism happens everywhere
Unless the foreign office is advising against travel then go

EssentialHummus · 17/05/2019 06:30

Unless the foreign office is advising against travel then go

Aren’t they?

I wouldn’t. High risk of terrorism given where Tunisia is, men who see anyone female over the age of 10 as fair game for sexual jibes... no.

KatherineJaneway · 17/05/2019 06:30

I'd check foreign office advice before considering it.

Pinkbutton85 · 17/05/2019 06:31

The travel ban was lifted last year

OP posts:
Kenworthington · 17/05/2019 06:32

There’s a big thread I posted on recently about holidaying in Tunisia. It was almost entirely a resounding No! I went two weeks before the beach attacks. To the same hotel and the same beach. Bearing in mind I was there BEFORE, it was awful, there was an edge to it like something terrible could happen at any moment, didn’t feel safe in some way, esp on the Beach and out of the hotel. It was a crap hotel, despite being a high star rating. It was just an unpleasant place, I would never want to go back

LuluBellaBlue · 17/05/2019 06:34

Yes I’d go.
I have family over there and so have a little more insight into it.
The travel band seem to be more politically motivated, as in France, UK etc also very high alter but no travel bans.
I’ve been told the security there now is super high, security guards and scanners at every hotel entrance, you obviously don’t get that in London.

LuluBellaBlue · 17/05/2019 06:34

Btw my family are English (if that makes any difference)

secretdoubleagent · 17/05/2019 06:37

I visited years ago, before the attack. It is a lovely country, quite progressive but still didn't feel comfortable leaving the hotel without being covered up. I have always said I wanted to go back one day to see more of the country. Terrorism can happen anywhere, even your more 'standard' tourist areas - France for example. Don't let it deter you, however I think that you need to be 100% relaxed so if you have doubts go somewhere else.

Davidbowiestrousers · 17/05/2019 06:37

My cousin had her leg shot off in Tunisia 2015, so not on my ideal holiday list

Arabuella · 17/05/2019 06:38

I wouldn’t, only because I’ve been and didn’t like the place. I wouldn’t swim in the sea OP. We walked to the edge of the beach that was kept clean by hotel staff to see a sea of used nappies and rubbish that had been washed up on the untended bits of the beach.

nrpmum · 17/05/2019 06:38

I am going in two weeks for two weeks. Everyone I've spoken to irl have told me it's lovely. Everyone here tells you not to go 🤷

Mrsemcgregor · 17/05/2019 06:40

I went before the attack. I found it fine, I wasn’t leered at or groped or in anyway disrespected. Everyone was perfectly nice and polite.

I even travelled out of resort and got a train to Tunis, then a light railway to Carthage. Also did a 3 night 4x4 safari into the Sahara desert.

The hotel standards are low though, I stayed 5 and it would have scrapped a 3 if it were anywhere else.

I’m also travelling to London next week - they’ve had more terror attacks more recently 🤷‍♀️

Tara336 · 17/05/2019 06:45

I have been and stayed where the attacks happened, it was a few years before the attacks and I felt unsafe. There were huge concrete barriers around the hotels to stop cars being driven up to them (use your imagination as to why). There was an atmosphere of your moneys wanted here but your not, a man grabbed my 10 year old and dragged her to his shop to get us to follow, horses clearly in poor condition needing a vet but being used to pull tourist carriages in searing heat. The place is an absolute dump and I don’t know one person who’s been who would go back.

Honeybee85 · 17/05/2019 06:45

A female acquaintance of mine went there as she knew a local guy there from when he was working outside his country.
He was very kind and respectful to her and took her out on a night to a bar where traditional music was played. There they met a few of his friends and all seemed fine.

The friend went to get drinks at the bar and as soon as he had turned his back on my acquaitanance and his friends, one of the guys put without any warning, his hand inside her top, trying to touch her boobs. She got furious and smacked him as a response which nearly resulted in him attacking her if the guy who was her friend hadnt noticed the commotion and came to her rescue. The excuse of the attacker was that she was asking for it, coming to a bar full of men, dressed like that....

I never forgot that story from years ago and it has kept me from going there surely!

Pinkbutton85 · 17/05/2019 06:57

Ok.. thanks for the replies.

Absolutely won't be going!

OP posts:
EggWrap · 17/05/2019 07:01

With that budget, why not go somewhere in the uk, and live like a queen for a week!

Never really saw the appeal of foreign travel as a way to relax tbh.

DanielRicciardosSmile · 17/05/2019 07:08

I wouldn't because I've been before (long before the terror attacks) and hated it. It's no exaggeration to say the entire plane cheered as it left the runway to return home!

Saying that, I think a lot depends on which resort you're going to. We were in Sousse and pretty much everyone I've known go there disliked it. Port el Kantaoui, on the other hand, seems to get fairly favourable reports.

Skyejuly · 17/05/2019 07:11

No!

DullPortraits · 17/05/2019 07:16

Theres a reason why its so cheap.. don't do it OP x

Parkermumma07 · 17/05/2019 07:24

I've been prior to the terrorist attack and it was lovely, the locals were lovely and friendly and really glad of the tourism. There were issues in surrounding coutrys at the time which I think put people off visiting so the staff at the hotel were so happy to actually have guests!

ANewDawn10 · 17/05/2019 07:58

It's that cheap for a reason!

betweentheacts · 17/05/2019 08:28

No, because it's hot - not because of the terrorism risk. We've had several terror attacks in the UK in the last decade, so no reason to think we're any safer here (relatively speaking - I think we're all reasonably safe generally).

LagunaBubbles · 17/05/2019 08:33

I honeymooned in Hammamet in 1999 and it was such a lovely hotel, beach and overall just perfect. Not so sure I would go now.

badlydrawnperson · 17/05/2019 08:34

No I wouldn't - but I hate beach holidays anyway.

DesparateDino · 17/05/2019 08:36

There was a thread on here a while back and the general consensus was no.

If you plan to not leave the hotel at all I guess it would be ok, but I could not relax.

The neighbours used to go all the time and they loved it. They have not been back since the attacks.