Tunisian shoppers flock to Libya

2008-02-22

From shoppers looking for bargains to merchants buying products for resale, many Tunisians have parlayed Libya’s proximity and low prices into a business opportunity. Half of all Tunisians who travel to other countries choose Libya, a new report indicates.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 22/02/08

[Getty Images] Low-priced goods such as these in a Tripoli market are the draw for an increasing number of Tunisians who come to Libya to shop for themselves or purchase items for resale.

Libya is the preferred destination for Tunisian travellers, according to a recent report from the Tunisian National Tourism Bureau. In a study of Tunisian tourists who visited the Gulf, Europe and other Maghreb countries during 2006, the Bureau found that half of the 2.3 million travellers headed to the Jamahiriya, or "People's Republic".

Ever since the boom in the Tunisian economy, Tunisians have been bombarded with travel advertisements encouraging them to visit other countries. Millions may be travelling, but the majority of those trips are close to home. Tunisians are finding Libya to be a terrific and affordable destination.

For shopping, that is. Only a six-hour drive away, the price of consumer goods or domestic appliances, such as furnishings, clothes, and cooking utensils, is much cheaper in Libya. Mourad Mrabet, who travelled from Tunisia to Tripoli to buy new car tires, told Magharebia that he was able to do it all in just one day, without having to stay at a hotel.

Many Tunisians have parlayed Libya’s proximity and low prices into a business opportunity. At the Sakaa market in the centre of Tripoli, said Mokhtar Bel Hadj, "You rarely hear dialects other than Libyan and Tunisian. The market is full of Tunisian men and women, and most of them are 'bag traders'." The expression is used to describe small traders who carry their goods in leather bags and then offer them for sale in Tunisia markets or directly to customers at their residences.

One such "bag trader" is 50-something Wassila Baldi. Despite the fact that Libya bans women from entering the country without a male companion, Baldi is a frequent traveller who earns her living buying gold in Libya and selling it back home. "Its price is reasonable compared to the gold price in Tunisia," she said.

"Most of the Tunisians who go to Libya do so for commercial purposes," said Chokri Ben Necir of the Tourist Writers' Association. "Don't forget that Tunisians are not required to have a visa to visit the Jamahiriya. The factor of proximity is very important, as it enables them to use their own cars. In addition, there are similar habits and traditions between the people of the two countries, and there is no language barrier."

Even with Libya's "great historical treasures" such as the Roman area of Lebda, Ben Necir said, "I don't think [Tunisians] go there for cultural tourism."

Although Tunisian-Libyan relations had been strained since the mid-1970s, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali paid a visit to Libya upon assuming office in 1987. Since then, relations between the two countries progressively improved until Libya became Tunisia’s most important Maghreb trade partner.