Don’t abandon Tunisia!

Just as a pilgrimage to Mecca is a holy obligation for all Muslims, it should now be a patriotic duty for as many Brits as possible to holiday in Tunisia. I say this not to make light of the tragic attack on the beach at Sousse last week, but to urge everyone to show the terrorists that they cannot win. They want to terrify us and shut down Tunisia’s resurgent tourist trade. They want to turn it into a failed state, a recruiting ground for lobotomised self-detonators. What better reaction could there be for those untouched by this attack than to laugh at our enemies and board the next flight to Hammamet?

Even now, you’re more likely to be killed in a traffic accident in Britain than by a terrorist in North Africa. There are risks when you climb into a taxi on the way to the airport; risks that the hotel balcony may collapse. The question is whether the reward is worth the risks, and in the case of Tunisia the answer is an emphatic yes.

Everyone looks for different things in a summer holiday. For some it’s booze and beaches, for others it’s museums, crumbling ruins and the local food. Tunisia does it all. Boozy Brits are well catered for. The national beer, Celtia, produced on licence from Löwenbräu, is a fine brew. Tunisia has been producing wine for two millennia, and does a fiendish line in firewater. Take your pick from boukha, a 40-per-cent fig spirit; laghmi, a fermented palm wine; and Thibarine, a date concoction said to have its origins with 19th-century monks. Booze aside, there are tajines, couscous, spicy harissa, grilled fish, chorba and lablabi soups, kamounia meat stew, and all sorts of salads.

If your tastes are more cultural, you can’t beat the ancient land of the lotus-eaters.