More than 9.34 million tourists visited Morocco in 2011, a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous year, the president of the Tourism Observatory Mr. Kamal Bensouda recently indicated.
More than 9.34 million tourists visited Morocco in 2011, a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous year, the president of the Tourism Observatory Mr. Kamal Bensouda recently indicated.
Overall revenues generated by the sector increased by 4% last year to reach a total of 59 billion dirhams, despite a difficult economic situation, he noted during a press conference intended to present the results of the tourism sector.
These figures are the result of active communication and promotion maintained across all markets in 2011 both domestically and in foreign markets, he explained. The year 2011 began by seeing its occupancy rates increase by around 5 points during the first two months, but this rate fell by three points at the end of December, he noted.
The sector is experiencing profound changes in distribution systems and major European tour operators have experienced a dramatic season with a 28% decline in turnover in Morocco, Tunisia (40%) and Egypt (42%), he explained, stressing that the rise of the Internet has had a structuring impact on the marketing strategy of the Morocco destination.
The sector, which contributes around 9% of GDP, achieved satisfactory results during 2011 despite a difficult global economy and the drop in travel demand due to the economic crisis which affected the main source markets for tourists to Morocco, noted, for his part, the Minister of Tourism, Lahcen Haddad.
These results confirm the accuracy of the strategic choices and the maturity of the industry. The Moroccan market has also demonstrated its resilience thanks to the strong fundamentals of the sector, underlined the minister, adding that Moroccan tourism will continue to improve its growth in 2012 which will be « full of opportunities ».
Hence the need to “remain vigilant, be offensive and prepare for the recovery” that global tourism will experience, especially as forecasts from the World Tourism Organization expect more than 1.5 billion tourists by 2020.
He then called for increased efforts to confirm the maturity of the tourism industry, in particular by supporting professionals with a view to putting in place a plan to face the challenges of the difficult economic situation and strengthening the competitiveness of the sector.
For the Director General of the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT), Hamid Addou, the Office has spared no effort to maintain Moroccan market share in an increasingly competitive sector.
The ONMT has planned, for 2012, an ambitious and innovative action plan based on new avenues of communication with the advent of digital, a major lever to guarantee a continuous and diffuse presence. The communication strategy will consist of « permanently occupying the ground » via the Web, the media and events in several countries, he indicated, recalling the launch two weeks ago of an online information and reservation platform.
The year 2012 will also see the strengthening of the cooperation program with airlines, the increase in air connections to Moroccan destinations and the conclusion of new commercial partnerships to defuse the risk linked to the current « very complicated » global situation. The internal market will always occupy a priority place in the ONMT strategy, which will be based on the recommendations of the study relating to this market and its activation. Thus, a complementary product offering will strengthen the Biladi plan through the implementation of measures intended to meet the expectations of Moroccan tourists, continued the head of the Office.
The year 2011 was a difficult year for the sector, noted, for his part, the president of the National Tourism Federation, Ali Ghannam, recalling that at the global level Morocco moved to 24th position in terms of arrivals and to 36th in terms of tourist revenue.
He insisted on the need to work together to improve certain indicators and figures recorded by the national tourism industry, particularly in terms of nights in traditional accommodation establishments which achieved a negative performance of -6%, the occupancy rate (40%), average prices (-12%) and turnover (20%).
MAP
