SPECIAL FEATURE
Tunisia’s three-month country-wide lockdown has paid dividends.
Summer transition MEDITERRANEAN CRUISING GROUNDS ARE AMONG THE FIRST TO EMERGE FROM LOCKDOWN READY TO TACKLE THE SUMMER SEASON HEAD ON. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF YACHT SERVICES TUNISIA.
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he world’s bustling superyacht cruising grounds have remained eerily quiet since Covid-19 first hit in March. But while cases continue to rise in Africa, Asia and North and South America amid fears of a global second spike, a growing number of Mediterranean countries are declared open for business. Montenegro, Malta and Tunisia are among the top six European countries to record the lowest number of active cases. Figures taken from the
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John Hopkins Trust data set on 8 June 2020 show that Tunisia had just five active cases per million population, compared with Spain that had 1,329. And Montenegro has been promoting itself as ‘Europe’s first coronavirusfree country’ since 27 May, when the Balkan country announced it no longer had any active cases of the virus. Kim Williams of superyacht agency Yacht Services Tunisia believes Tunisia’s success is down to the swift action taken early on by the government. “The Tunisian government were very proactive in trying to stop the spread of Covid-19,” she says. “The entire country was put on lockdown on 21 March with only around 50 reported cases. We had a nighttime curfew, Mosques closed, cafes, airspace and international borders closed. We were not allowed to travel from one town to another, even the trains were stopped.”
Mediterranean waters open Popular with charter guests keen to explore the picturesque Dalmatian coast, Croatia was one of the first European destinations to reopen. However, on 18 July following a surge of keen holiday makers, the country announced it was experiencing a second wave of the coronavirus with 116 new cases recorded. Yachts have been allowed to sail and charter in Croatian waters since 18 May. Similarly, on 1 June, Montenegro removed quarantine requirements for all yachts arriving from outside its waters and opened its borders to all countries who have fewer than 25 people infected per 100,000 inhabitants. Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic reportedly highlighted Croatia, Germany, and Greece as its ‘target countries’ for the summer season tourist industry but says top drawer destinations, such as the premier superyacht
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