Eco-Tourism and energy efficiency in Tunisia

While the tourism sector represents a good share of the Tunisian economy, the country still imports most of its energy. Green Hill Resort is a pilot project in Beni M’Tir village meant to kill two birds with one stone, by building an eco-hotel in the framework of the regional programme MED-ENEC.

Julien Théron - Tunis, Eurojar

The tourism sector represents 5.8% of Tunisia’s Gross Domestic Product. In fact, this sector is performing well due to Tunisia’s proximity to Europe and its moderate climate. 350,000 jobs are directly or indirectly generated by this sector which contributes to 13% of goods and services’ exports. Yet, two major events took place in the last decade and urged leaders in the country to reshape this sector: Djerba’s attack in 2002, as well as the emergence of other tourist attractions in the region. In an effort to increase the competitiveness of this sector, Tunisia worked on diversifying it and increasing its performance.

On the other hand, Tunisian Minister of Trade and Handicrafts, Khalifa Tounakti, was worried in 2007 from the escalating energy deficit in the country. Reducing the deficit required in 2005 a subsidy of around 1 billion US dollars in addition to multiple yearly revisions of prices. Therefore, the country focused on an energy policy that aims at reducing the costs and enhancing the national accounts. Clearly, the goal is a better management of energy consumption by several means (audits, awareness campaigns, development of performance, use of renewable energies, etc.).

Green Hill Resort: a new concept
When he visited the site where the touristic complex Green Hill will be built, Faiez Rouissi, partner, architect and founder of the programme got the idea of adding an ecological value to the project. He was attracted by the attractive environmental conditions in the region, namely “the special eco-system, the adequate exposure, the existence of the best thermal source in Tunisia (73°C).”

The project possesses the key components that make it successful on the touristic level (in terms of diversification), as well as on the level of energy management, which are two concepts that constitute the core of MED-ENEC, the EU regional programme supporting Green Hill Resort.

The idea of the eco-hotel was born with this double objective, and was based on five elements (ground, water, fire, air and metal). The aim was to ally the virtuous image of ecotourism with technical research and energy efficiency.

For this purpose, three components were implemented: a bioclimatic architecture (orientation, residential concentration, shade, isolation); geothermal element (heat pumps); and solar energy (electricity and air-conditioning). In fact, three chalets are concerned by the project, while the touristic complex includes 18, in addition to a thermal station, a function room, three restaurants, and two outdoor thermal pools. Yet the objective resides elsewhere.

An opportunity for the tourism sector
The goal is to develop as many types as possible of renewable energies and not only the most profitable ones. The additional cost of such equipment reaches 100%, which makes it almost impossible to apply such ecosystem measures on all buildings. However, the commercial visibility is of great importance: the developers of these ideas count on the positive integration of environmental technologies by the clientele. On the other hand, the general results of the pilot project include an economic feasibility scenario, and thus encourage the application of such techniques to other eco-tourist sites or to private residencies.

The technical demonstration was successful, as equipped buildings reached energy consumption close to zero, and practically did not emit any CO2 gases in the air. The evolution of technologies in construction equipments may trigger in the future the implementation of such projects on a larger scale. On the political level, Faiez Rouissi confesses that the “European support was positive in a way that made energy efficiency a national priority.”

As a project developer, Rouissi agrees that “administrative procedures were complicated and tiring due to the fact that this is a pilot project and administrations were not familiar with the particularities of such projects”; however, he admits, from his position of architect of the project, that “the experience was thrilling and enriching.” It is worth noting as well that Green Hill Resort became “a highly appreciated project and everybody wants to imitate it.” A strategic study on ecotourism prepared in Tunisia in collaboration with the German agency GTZ -which supplied the technical assistance for MED-ENEC project- came to reinforce this dynamic, by locating a number of sites and circuits favorable for the development of ecotourism in the country.

If Faiez Rouissi and his partners are considered as pioneers in ecotourism, their project responds as well to the aspirations of Tunisia and its Euro-Mediterranean partners who are today in favor of green technologies, which constitute an added value in a very competitive sector such as tourism.

See the website: MED-ENEC