The wealth of heritage and cultural tourism in tunisia through two different cases: the archipelago of kerkena and the mountains of southeastern tunisia

  • Mounira Kebaïli Tarchouna Faculté des Lettres des Arts et des Humanités de Manouba, Tunis Tunisie
  • Samir Kebaili Faculté des Lettres et sciences humaines de Sfax, Tunisie
Keywords: Heritage, fixed fishery, troglodyte houses, ksour, local population

Abstract

Tunisia is a country in North Africa located on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and bordering the Sahara Desert. This situation gave it a landscape diversity, although it covers only 163610 km², and it attracted several civilizations. The age of human occupation in Tunisia, its history, its passage through several civilizations and its geography, are at the origin of the wealth and diversity of its heritage.

To show this heritage richness we have chosen two particular examples each having a different site from the other: The archipelago of Kerkena, located on the east coast of Tunisia in the east center, and the mountains of South East Tunisia. The particularity of Kerkena is manifested by the fixed fisheries owned by fishermen and that of the mountains of southeastern Tunisia by troglodyte houses and "Ksour".

The adaptation of the inhabitants of Kerkena to their island environment has marked this archipelago by the importance of fishing activity, especially fixed fisheries that designate an original artisanal fishing technique. However, seaside tourism is still very limited. The peculiarity in Kerkena is related to the activity of the fishing, whereas the peculiarity in the mountains of the south-east Tunisia is in relation with the original architecture of the houses troglodytes and "Ksour". These traditional buildings have exceptional historical and cultural value because of their particular architecture. Troglodyte dwellings are found mainly in the village of Matmata, located forty kilometers southwest of the city of Gabes, and occupying Mount Matmata north of the Dahar mountains. The ksour characterize the mountain range Dahar, which begins southwest of Gabes and rises south towards Medenine and Tataouine.

The present work is a study of the relationship between heritage wealth and cultural tourism in Kerkena and the mountains of southeastern Tunisia. We will present the cultural offer of the two cases, then we will analyze the impacts of heritage wealth on tourism development for both examples, finally we will present proposals for the development of cultural tourism for the local population in Kerkena, in the mountains of the southeast and in general in Tunisia.

The objective is to show the originality of the tourist offer in Tunisia for the development of mainly cultural alternative tourism. The methodology is based on the reading of various books and articles and on the field study including the interview with the local population.

Author Biographies

Mounira Kebaïli Tarchouna, Faculté des Lettres des Arts et des Humanités de Manouba, Tunis Tunisie

Docteur en géographie.

Samir Kebaili, Faculté des Lettres et sciences humaines de Sfax, Tunisie

Docteur en géographie.

References

Abichou H. (2009). The enhancement of heritage as a vector of sustainable local development: what economic benefits and what institutional arrangement? Case of the Tunisian south-east. Doctoral thesis in economics under the supervision of Professor Elène Rey Valette, University of Montpellier I, Faculty of Economics, 273 p.

Ben Ouezdou H. (2001). Discover southern Tunisia. From Matmata to Tataouine: ksour, jessour and troglodytes. Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Tunis, 78 p.

Gourija S. (2007). Tourism and sustainable development: what combination? Case of Morocco. doctoral thesis in economics, under the supervision of professor Zaoual Hassan, University of the Littoral Côte d'Opale, 303 p.

Hammami Z. (2014). Tourism, heritage and development in the Matmata-Demmer chain (south-eastern Tunisia). Doctoral thesis in geography under the supervision of Professor Abdelfatteh Kaseh, University of Sfax, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of Sfax.

Kebaïli Tarchouna M. (2014). The Kerkena archipelago: Organization of space and planning. Doctoral thesis in geography under the supervision of Professor Abdelkarim Daoud, University of Tunis, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Tunis 2013, published in 2014 by the University Publication Center, 432 p.

Louis A. (1961). The Kerkena Islands, Study of Tunisian ethnography and human geography. Publication of the Institute of Beautiful Arab Letters, Tunis, 3 volumes: The works 410 pages, The days 447 pages and Document of ethnography 315 pages.

National Heritage Institute, Tunis (1996). Archaeological map and park project in the Kerkennah Islands. Report prepared by Chelbi F, 2 p and a map at 1/25000.

Souissi M. (2007). International tourism in Tunisia: towards new forms and the reorganization of the tourist space. Doctoral thesis in geography under the supervision of Professor Guy CHEMLA, Sorbonne-Paris IV University, 524 p.

National Office of Tunisian Tourism (2016). Tunisian Tourism in figures. 95 p.

Oueslati A. (1995). The islands of Tunisia. CERES publication, 368 p.

Tsartas P. (1998). Greece: from mass tourism to alternative tourism. L’Harmattan, Tourisme et Sociétés collection, Paris, 238 p.
Published
2020-01-01
How to Cite
Kebaïli Tarchouna, M., & Kebaili, S. (2020, January 1). The wealth of heritage and cultural tourism in tunisia through two different cases: the archipelago of kerkena and the mountains of southeastern tunisia. Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research, 3(1), 107-135. Retrieved from https://jthr.es/index.php/journal/article/view/131