In an attempt to salvage its turbulent tourism industry, Tunisia is exploring new avenues by using social media and Star Wars to send the sector into hyperdrive.
The country’s Ministry of Tourism has decided to revisit the desert setting used for many scenes in the original Star Wars films to shoot a Tunisian version of Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy”, which has been replicated worldwide on YouTube with people dancing to the theme.
Happy (We are from Tatooine) commissioned by the tourism ministry, features a number of Star Wars characters dancing in and around Tunisia's Tataouine (the inspiration for the fictional planet Tatooine in the franchise), including R2-D2, C-3PO, a stormtrooper and Darth Vader.
The viral video has so far proved a success, garnering more than 1.5m hits inside a month, but whether that translates to more visitors is yet to be seen.
“There are fans (of the sci-fi films) in the United States, in Scandinavia, in Asia, in South America, where Tunisia is barely known,” said Amel Karboul, Tunisia’s new tourism minister at a press briefing. “It will help to raise awareness of Tunisia.
“To change a country from one that is relatively inexpensive to a top-end tourist destination will take 10 or 15 years, but to change the image of a country from one that’s cheap to one that is fun can be done much more quickly, and that’s a priority for us.”
Tunisia is hoping to welcome seven million tourists in 2014, a slight increase on the 6.9 million who visited in 2010, before the revolution that ousted its dictatorship and lead to outbreaks of Islamist violence in the African nation.
The number of tourists fell drastically to 4.7 million in 2011, and has since seen little recovery, affecting an estimated 400,000 people working in the sector.
