09 May 2014 TimesLive SA tells us that the Tunisian National Office for Tourism has teamed up with the country’s own Star Wars fan club to stage its first Star Wars encounter in the country.
This is another aspect of Tunisia’s new campaign to increase and diversify tourism in the country. Participating fan clubs from Europe will feature the parade in the capital and then there will be film screenings and events in Tunisia’s deep south which houses the sets from several Star Wars movies.
Zied Chargui is the director of the National Office of Tunisian Tourism and one of the brains behind the new direction of Tunisian tourism and he is quoted as saying “We did this campaign to take advantage of these sets which are unique in the world – the only sites from the movies remaining,”
EL Reports had shared the beginning of the campaign; with Tunisia recording its own version ofPharrell Williams’ very popular “Happy” song, featuring Star Wars characters dancing around Tunisian tourist sites and the desert movie sets.
Zied Chargui expressed his happiness at the response to the video – over 1.7million views onyoutube and even a tweet from Pharrel himself. He added that the idea was to remind the world that Tunisia has attractions other than beach resorts.
The original Star Wars movie was filmed in Tunisia in 1977 and new sets were added on, in 1999 and 2002 for subsequent installments. However, the new episode of the franchise will not be shot in Tunisia.
This isn’t stopping Tunisia though, the Star Wars themed activities will continue until the movie’s release in 2015.