Port El Kantaoui ( ar, مرسى القنطاوي) is a tourist complex 10 kilometres north of

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

city in central

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. It was built in 1979 specifically as a tourist center, around a large artificial harbour that provides mooring with 340 berths for luxury yachts, hosting sporting activities from water skiing to paragliding, and several golf courses. The architecture, although modern and dazzlingly white, has been modeled on the more traditional buildings in Tunisia, complete with narrow streets and arches. The hotels that line the beachfront extend from

itself along miles of sparkling clean sea to the harbor of Port El Kantaoui and to the north of the harbor. In style, the port area Port El Kantaoui is designed as a white and blue Tunisian style village with reproduced

medina quarter A medina (from ar, مدينة, translit=madīnah, lit=city) is a historical district in a number of North African cities, often corresponding to an old walled city. The term comes from the Arabic word simply meaning "city" or "town". Histori ...

and cobblestone streets. It is popular with

package holiday A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...

visitors, families, and first-time visitors, however, its extensive landscaping and detachment from the true Tunisia bring critics; most notably the

Rough Guide Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

has described Port El Kantaoui as "Tunisia without tears ... artificial, soulless, even anemic". In 2015, 39 people were killed when a lone terrorist gunman opened fire at two hotels (

2015 Sousse attacks On 26 June 2015, a mass shooting occurred at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia. Thirty-eight people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when a gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, attacked a ...

). This is the worst attack in the recent history of Tunisia since the

Tunisian Revolution The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El ...

of 2010–2011. Most of those killed were tourists.Reuters
/ref>

References

External links

* {{Coord, 35.894, N, 10.598, E, display=title, source:dewiki Seaside resorts in Tunisia Sousse Governorate