The wealth of heritage and cultural tourism in Tunisia through two different cases: the archipelago of Kerkena and the mountains of southeastern Tunisia
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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.
Key words: heritage, fixed fishery, troglodyte houses, ksour, local population.
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