Tabs are activated individually , so you can simply add / remove an item from the DOM and call it $().tab('show').
, :
<div class="tab-content">
<div class="tab-pane" id="existingTab">..</div>
</div>
:
$('.tab-content')
.append(
$('<div></div>')
.addClass('tab-pane')
.attr('id', 'newTab')
);
$('#newTab').tab('show');
.