KORBOUS, Tunisia: With a Mediterranean coastline, natural thermal springs, clement weather and affordability, Tunisia has become the world’s second-largest destination for seawater-based treatments known as thalassotherapy.
Now, it is setting its sights on overtaking France to claim the top spot.
“The main advantage of Tunisia is its coast and thalassotherapy,” compared with neighboring countries, said Mario Paolo, an Italian, at the Korbous thermal spa, perched on a hill an hour’s drive from the capital, Tunis.

A 78-year-old retiree who has lived in Tunisia for the past five years, Paolo said he frequently visits Tunisian thalassotherapy centers “to get back in shape.”
“Enjoying sea water and natural springs is not just leisure but also a therapy,” Paolo said after a thyme and rosemary oil massage.
Korbous, a coastal town on the Cap Bon peninsula, has historically been one of Tunisia’s hot spots for the therapy, which uses sea water and other marine resources.
Thalassotherapy is an “ancestral heritage” for Tunisians, “since hydrotherapy has existed in Tunisia since antiquity, at the time of the Carthaginians and the Romans,” Shahnez Guizani, the head of the National Office of Thermalism (ONTH), told AFP.

Other popular thalassotherapy destinations in the country include Sousse, Hammamet, Monastir, and Djerba, which Tunisian news agency TAP said was named the Mediterranean thalassotherapy capital in 2014 by the World Federation of Hydrotherapy and Climatotherapy.
Rouaa Machat, 22, said she traveled from France to Korbous for a three-day wellness retreat.
“I’m here to enjoy the types of water this beautiful town offers,” she said, referring to the use of seawater, spring water, and desalinated water for therapy.
“But I am also here for this,” she added, grinning and pointing to the Korbous sea and mountains.

Customers mainly come for the quality of spring water, said Raja Haddad, a doctor who heads the thalassotherapy center at the Royal Tulip Korbous Bay hotel.
Today, Tunisia boasts 60 thalassotherapy centers and 390 spas, 84 percent of which are located in hotels, according to the ONTH.
Tourism accounts for seven percent of the country’s GDP and provides nearly half a million jobs, according to official figures.
The sector has seen a decade of setbacks due to terrorist attacks and later the COVID-19 pandemic.

But it has been recovering again as the number of foreign visitors exceeded 10 million last year — a record for the country of 12 million people.

Guizani said thalassotherapy on its own draws about 1.2 million foreign visitors a year, with “70 percent coming from Europe, including 40 percent from France.”
The industry generates approximately 200 million dinars ($63 million, 60 million euros) per year, she added.
That compares with a French thalassotherapy market valued at around 100 million euros last year, according to market research firm Businesscoot.
At a luxury hotel near Monastir, a thalassotherapy center buzzes with customers despite the cold winter season.
Visitors have come from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, among other countries.
“As soon as you arrive, you find palm trees and the sun,” said Monique Dicrocco, a 65-year-old French tourist. “It’s pure happiness, and it’s also worth your money.”
“Here the therapy is much cheaper than in France, with 1,000 euros a week all inclusive instead of 3,000,” she added.
Jean-Pierre Ferrante, 64, from Cannes, said he found “the quality of the water and the facilities just as good as in France.”
Kaouther Meddeb, head of the thalassotherapy and spa center at the Royal Elyssa Hotel in Monastir, said the number of clients has been growing lately.
Yet despite meeting international standards, the sector remains underappreciated in Tunisia, she said.
“There’s a lack of communication and promotion,” she added.
Experts say more investment is needed in infrastructure. This includes road improvements and air services, they say, as there are few low-cost flights.
But plans are already underway to develop eco-friendly thermal resorts in regions like Beni M’tir, a mountainous village in the northwest, and near Lake Ichkeul south of Bizerte, said Guizani.
“With all the advantages it has, Tunisia is poised to become the world leader in thalassotherapy,” she added.
 

JOHANNESBURG: President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed Monday to continue providing support to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the face of nationwide calls to withdraw troops following the death of 14 South African soldiers.

Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have made substantial gains in the eastern DRC, taking the major city of Goma last week and vowing to march across the country to the capital, Kinshasa.

It is the latest escalation in a mineral-rich region devastated by decades of fighting involving dozens of armed groups and has rattled the continent, with regional blocs holding emergency summits over the spiraling tensions.

“Achieving a lasting peace and security for the eastern DRC and the region requires the collective will of the community of nations,” Ramaphosa said in a statement. “South Africa will not let up in its support to the people of the DRC.”

Fourteen soldiers from South Africa have been killed in the conflict, prompting calls for a withdrawal, including from the radical Economic Freedom Fighters party.

Most of the soldiers killed were part of a peacekeeping mission sent to eastern DRC in 2023 by the 16-nation Southern African Development Community, or SADC.

“The deployment ... is reckless and unjustifiable,” EFF leader Julius Malema said Monday.

“With the increasing hostility involving the M23 rebels, it is imperative that South Africa withdraws its troops to ensure their safety.”

Ramaphosa highlighted that the SADC mission had operational time frames and an end date.

“The mission will wind down in accordance with the implementation of various confidence-building measures and when the ceasefire we have called for takes root,” he said.

“For a lasting peace to be secured in the eastern Confo, there must be an immediate end to hostilities and a ceasefire that must be respected by all.”

The SADC last week called for a summit with the eight-country East African Community to “deliberate on the way forward regarding the security situation in Congo.”

The move followed a meeting by SADC that pledged unwavering support for Congo and reiterated backing for mediation efforts led by Angola and Kenya.

The summit in the Zimbabwean capital Harare also dispatched officials to Congo to ensure SADC troops are safe and to facilitate the repatriation of the dead and wounded who are still in the country.

South Africa dominates the SADC force, which is estimated to number around 1,300 troops, but Malawi and Tanzania also contribute soldiers.

Commentators and analysts have questioned the quality of the support and equipment available to the South African National Defense Force, citing budget cuts in the cash-strapped government.

The Democratic Alliance party, which has demanded a debate in parliament over the deployment, said it wanted to know “why our troops were deployed without the required support including air support.”

“The government has kept increasing the SANDF’s mandate while cutting its funding and capabilities,” Guy Martin, editor of an African magazine defenseWeb, wrote in the local Sunday Times newspaper.