TUNIS — Tunisia has a news tourism minister following a reshuffle by Prime Minister Youssef Chad on Monday evening.

PM Chahed named Rene Trabelsi for the tourism portfolio. The Jewish businessman is one of ten new faces in Chahed’s Cabinet. Trabelsi’s appointment despite Tunisia being a Muslim Arab country has been seen as a crucial move.

The prime minister hopes that the new faces will inject some much needed urgency into his government that has been slammed for failure to fix an economic crisis.

Tunisia’s tourism sector experienced a slump following terrorist attack on foreign tourists in Sousse. It was reported to have picked after some years even though analysts maintained that more needed to be done.

Tourism is a mainstay of the country’s economy. Since an uprising toppled the autocrat President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, nine Cabinets have failed to resolve Tunisia’s economic problems and impatience is rising among foreign lenders such as the International Monetary Fund which have kept the country afloat.

The powerful union UGTT accuses Chahed of mismanaging the economy and has called for him to be to step down. The moderate Islamist party Ennahda, which holds the majority in parliament, has said the exit of the prime minister would hit stability at a time when the country needs economic reforms. — Agencies