Hotels and restaurants in sousse, tunisia, using a self-administered questionnaire. ‘isostrain’ was assessed using the karasek questionnaire. ‘isostrain’ is a situation where there is a combination of ‘jobstrain’ (‘tension at work’) and low social support (score below the median of the group). spss 20 software was used to analyze the data. results: a total of 226 workers were included. the mean age was 38.2 � 9.6 years. the sex ratio was 2.7. the majority of employees (64.8%) were working at workplace during covid-19 lock- down. the prevalence of isostrain was 5.4%. isostrain was reported by 5.7% of women (p = 1). all workers older than 50 years did not have isostrain (p = 0.6). moreover, isostrain was found among 6.6% of workers with less than 5 years of work experience (p = 0.4), 4.8% of married employees (p = 0.7), and 7.6% of employees with a university education (p = 0.53). conclusions: isostrain can affect employees in the tourism sector. social support should be promoted among workers to ensure good mental health. key messages: prevalence of isostrain in tourism sector of sousse during covid-19 pandemic is quite high. preventive strategies of mental health should be promoted at workplace in tunisia