Emily Flanagan’s press visit to Sousse in 2013 found fears for their delicate new democracy, tourism and immigration were on the minds of many Tunisians who voiced their fears just yards from where the tragic tourist massacre took place

TUNISIAN Prime Minister Habib Essid has described the fight against terrorism as “national responsibility” following the massacre of 39 British and German tourists on a beach in Sousse.

The killings are a dreadful blow to a country which fought against the odds to create a new democracy after many years of dictatorship - and then worked to bring prosperity back through tourism.

Tourism and civil liberties – the two things attacked by the recent shootings – had been two things at the forefront of the minds of Tunisians I spoke to when I visited Sousse a couple of years ago.

I took part in a whistle-stop tour of the region, on a trip designed to encourage tourists back to this beautiful part of North Africa after its revolution.

Tunisia’s 2011 Jasmine revolution set off a chain of similar protests across the Arab world.

It was sparked by the death of a fruit seller, who became a symbol for many people of all that was wrong and intolerable under the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

University graduate Mohamed Bouazizi had been selling fruit on the street when he couldn’t find employment. His stall, which supported his nine family members, was seized for having no licence so he set himself alight in protest.

Anger at Government corruption and unfair bureaucracy boiled over. Civil unrest followed, followed by the blossoming of a successful democracy.

Part of its road back to stability was a serious attempt to welcome back its visitors to tourist areas, such as Sousse and Hammamet.

About 15 per cent of Tunisia's workforce is either directly or indirectly employed in tourism, according to the IMF, and in these areas, that figure is much higher.

Sousse is an ancient city situated on a beautiful stretch of coast, home to palatial, palm-lined hotels, restaurants and leisure attractions.

In the centre is Sousse Archaeological Museum, which had only just opened months earlier when we visited. It contained stunning vast Roman and Byzantium mosaics restored with Unesco grants. It was a modern, fresh, contemporary-looking museum that clearly expected Sousse would again become a popular tourist destination and was probably already affected by the tourist shootings at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis earlier this year.

Sousse’s restaurants were bursting with colourful fresh ingredients of dishes which became adopted after the many civilisations which had ruled the land in the past; Romans, Arabic, Turkish, French and the native Berber people. Local people seemed to sit happily among many cultures, with women opting to wear either Islamic dress or more Western clothes.

Silhouettes of half-constructed beachside villas dotting the coastline were pointed out to us as a sign of the brighter economic times on the horizon.

Although it wasn’t apparent in tourist areas such as Sousse and Port El Kantaoui there was underlying sense of unease about the huge influx of immigrants arriving in Tunisia, fleeing from volatile situations in neighbouring Libya, Algeria and nearby Syria.

Outside the five star hotels of Sousse and Hammamet, full of European and international tourists, there was also clearly great poverty in the surrounding rural areas.

At one point we passed a leisure complex on the coast with an armed guard standing watch, where a huge auction of luxury goods and national treasures was taking place. The goods had been seized from Ben Ali’s many luxury homes dotted around this tourist region of Tunisia after he was toppled in the revolution. There were rumours he had Roman antiquities and other historical artefacts decorating his kitchen. The vast proceeds from these auctions were being invested into the country’s infrastructure and other government projects.

Having fought to overthrow a dictatorship, most Tunisians seemed exceptionally aware of civil liberties and freedoms.

Many people in the shops and restaurants or selling tourist items in the souks told us they wanted political stability to bring back tourism.

As a small, but obvious group of tourists, we would be approached by people selling souvenirs on the streets or in souks. When they found out we were journalists, their faces fell serious and they talked about the need for tourists from Europe to return and asked us to write articles, to encourage them back.

One man, on the beach in Sousse told me: “You will write about our country? You will tell them how beautiful it is? You will tell the tourists to come back?”

At one point, the return of tourism seemed almost guaranteed, especially after people’s civil liberties and safety were enshrined in a new constitution last year. In 2014, the country drafted a new constitution which recognised Islam as the official state religion, but protects freedom of belief, recognises gender equality and demands the government takes steps to fight corruption.

It was signed into law with the words from President Marzouki: “With the birth of this text, we confirm our victory over dictatorship."

Now it seems a battle against terrorism is the next chapter for this much fought-for democracy.