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Created October 2013, Updated February 2014 looking for new answers due to "rapidly changing event"

There was a suicide bombing recently near a hotel in Tunis. Also reading the news, it seems they are protesting against the Tunisian government, and there is quite a bit violence too, and I saw now in 2014 that they shot and killed some Militant in Tunis, if I'm not mistaken?

I already booked a flight, but is it safe to travel to Tunis around end of March / beginning of April?

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    "Safe" is a relative term. I don't have stats to back this up, but I think I can confidently say, you are far more likely to die in a car accident in your home city than from a suicide bombing in Tunisia. So perhaps it's not safe to stay home!
    – Flimzy
    Oct 30, 2013 at 13:08
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    @Flimzy Of course, since the OP could also die in a car accident in Tunisia, the additional risk of violence is what the OP is concerned about.
    – David Navarre
    Feb 11, 2014 at 13:59

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Arab spring is changing so quick, what is safe today might not be one week later. So March/April is so far from now to tell. I suggest that you wait a bit and ask the question later as any of the answers now will not be applicable by that time. It is a rapidly changing event.

Anyway, in general, I would go to Tunis. It is generally safe and people there are not the violent type. Last similar event happened in 1986 where the bad guys targeted a tourists area. Tunisian people depend a lot on tourism they can not afford to lose that.

Last thing, the bad guy exploded himself only in an open area while he could go inside the hotel. I guess it was more like sending a message not a real "terrorist" attack.

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  • @user1712 "not a real terrorist attack"? If the intention was to instill terror (the message the suicide bomber was "sending") then it's a terrorist attack whether he was effective in injuring or killing as many people or not.
    – David Navarre
    Feb 11, 2014 at 14:06
  • Seems like things changed
    – BrownEyes
    Aug 17, 2015 at 11:32
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The best resource for accurate information in these type of situations are governmental information pages. (e.g. UK.gov advise on Tunisia.) If your government advises against visiting a specific country or region it is better to follow. Mainly, because you will be out of help from either your government or your insurance company in case things go wrong. In this case the UK doesn't seem to advise against going to all of Tunesia, there are however regions you better not visit, if you are from the UK. Best is to consult your local foreign affairs information portal.

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    Governments are over protecting and sometimes their decisions are made depending on political issues not on real safety issues.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Oct 30, 2013 at 18:06
  • I don't have that impression, but it might differ from country to country. As far as I was able to judge, their assessments were a lot more accurate then we see in modern journalism these days.
    – user141
    Oct 30, 2013 at 18:13
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    The US travel advisory is still in effect in Tunisia travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/…
    – David Navarre
    Feb 11, 2014 at 14:07
  • I would also look to see how helpful to nationals is your country's representation abroad, if you get in trouble, can and do they help or are you mostly on your own ? Government travel advisories are usually conservative but not entirely useless either, for example the Canadian one has regional provisions for some countries (avoid north of country x but south is comparatively safer, for example)
    – blackbird
    Feb 13, 2014 at 21:34
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It very much depends, but there are several sources that may help you here. The state department advises that it has a limited staff in Tunisia, and it recommends traveling with care, and registering with them (so they know you're there if something goes wrong) State Department. I think what you're looking for is best found on the UK site that tells you where not to go, gives you some tips, a general overview.

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