Terror in Tunisia: We need tourists to feel safe and return

Today it is heavily guarded by armed police stationed outside the building's iconic gates.

Security has been stepped up after three ISIS gunmen managed to breach its defences and kill 22 people.

The only British casualty was Sally Adey from Caynton near Albrighton.

The 57-year-old former Black Country solicitor was visiting the museum with her husband Robert on an excursion from a last-minute Mediterranean cruise.

In wake of the Bardo and Sousse terror attack – the latter which claimed the lives of 30 Brits – Tunisian officials announced last week that they are launching a specialist security and intelligence national agency to counter the threat of terrorism.

Officials from the Metropolitan Police are assisting.

While the Bardo Museum re-opened just a week after the attack in March, the country's tourism industry has been badly affected. Britain has warned its citizens against visiting the country.

Six months on from the Bardo attack, one million fewer visitors have been to the country.

A Tunisian tourism boss says bookings at hotels are at no more than 20 per cent of capacity.

"The situation is very sluggish,' said Radhouane Ben Salah, the head the Tunisian Federation of Hotels.

"With reservations at no more than 20 per cent, at least 70 hotels had to close since September because the lack of clients and more are expected to do the same," he added.

He added that he expected unemployment to climb as hotel staff would be forced out of work.

Joblessness already stands at nearly 30 per cent, with the number even higher among youths, and one in six Tunisians lives below the poverty line.

The tourism industry contributes 10 per cent to the country's economy, and employs 400,000 people directly and indirectly.

The number of visitors from Europe has halved since January, and international hotel chains have closed over the winter season.

As part of new security measures, a wall is being constructed along the border between Tunisia and Libya, with the first portion stretching 140 miles south from Ras Ajdir to the Dahiba border-crossing in Tataouine.

The government is working with nine national companies as well as the army to build the first section, a line of sandbags protecting a moat six and a half feet deep.

Construction began in July. A second phase, comprising an electronic sensor system, will start next year. Observation towers and drones will bolster the entire wall.

Mehdi Bahi, chairman of the Tunisian Association in Britain, said: "We know that big improvements are being made to security. Tourism is vital. It is key to Tunisia's development that tourists go back."

Yesterday, Foreign Officer minister Tobias Ellwood said the government's travel advice to Tunisia was constantly reviewed.

Sources told the Express & Star the restrictions could be partially-lifted to allow tourists to return to popular destinations, providing they were convinced security was adequate.

Mother-of-two Mrs Adey worked in Wolverhampton, Bridgnorth, Birmingham and Telford, and lived in Caynton, near Shifnal.

With her husband, she left the MSC Splendida in Tunis on March 18 before going to the museum. She was fatally shot but her husband was uninjured.

A post-mortem examination carried out in the UK on March 25 established that the provisional cause of death as 'consistent with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and pelvis'.

Two gunmen were killed by police – a third is on the run.

An Italian court last week rejected Tunisia's extradition request for a Moroccan man arrested on suspicion of involvement in the deadly museum attack because he risks the death penalty.

Abdelmajid Touil, who arrived in Italy in February on a migrant boat and was arrested in May, is accused by Tunisia of providing 'logistical support' to the two gunmen who stormed the Bardo. But Touil, who was in Italy at the time of the March attack in Tunis, insists he is innocent.