The shooting on Tunisia's Bardo National Museum is negatively affecting the country's tourism.
According to The Guardian, visits to tourist attractions in Tunisia plummeted after Wednesday's attack on the museum, which is located in the country's capital, Tunis.
Two heavily armed militants opened fire on tourists getting off from tour buses outside the Bardo National Museum last Wednesday. When the tourists fled inside the museum, the militants followed them, killing even more. The gunmen were killed in a standoff with the police but not before 17 tourists had died in the rampage.
Reuters reported that nine suspects were arrested after the shooting. Four are accused of having direct links to the assault on the museum, while five are believed to have indirect links to the two perpetrators.
After the attack, the Islamic State released an audio statement claiming responsibility for the attack. ISIS said that the two gunmen succeeded in striking down "citizens of the Crusader countries."
Most of the tourists that were killed on Wednesday's attacks came from the cruise ships Costa Fascinosa and MSC Splendida. Both these ships have left Tunisia, with their companies announcing that they will not return to the country.
In addition, the British Foreign Office issued a travel advisory warning Britons against visiting Tunisia due to a "high threat from terrorism."
Tourism is one of Tunisia's highest earning sectors, and it has only recently recovered after the slump caused by the Arab Spring. Wednesday's events, the Guardian reported, puts it all "in jeopardy."
The Arab Spring was a series of uprisings in the Middle East that led to the deposition of Libyan dictator Muhammad al-Gaddafi, the civil war in Syria and the emergence of the ISIS.
"The pillar of our economy is tourism," Tunisian journalist Safa Ben Said told the Guardian.
"It is a fragile sector; if anything happens it could be damaged."
