Arrivals of foreign tourists will increase by 1.5% over the entire year. The drop in arrivals from the French, German and English markets offset by the increase in the Chinese and Russian markets and the influx recorded during COP 22. Professionals are banking on beach resorts, the opening of new airlines and the doubling of the promotion budget.
The tourism sector is resisting in an international environment characterized by conflicts and terrorist attacks, not to mention the economic slump. “We have never witnessed so many negative events simultaneously. However, we should end the year with an increase in arrivals of 1.5% compared to 2015,” declared Abderrafie Zouiten, CEO of the ONMT, during a press conference held last Monday in Casablanca. Foreign exchange earnings follow the same upward trend. At the end of November, travel receipts stood at 59.4 billion DH, up 4.1% compared to November 2015. Said Mouhid, president of the Tourism Observatory, expects 63 billion DH at the end of December.
The problem is that the decline in arrivals from the most important source markets continues. At the end of October, the French market fell by 2%, the German market by 3% and the English market by 8%. The arrivals of Chinese and Russian tourists have fortunately cushioned this fall. Following the abolition of the entry visa to Morocco since June 1, the Chinese are arriving en masse. “We went from 1,000 Chinese visitors/month to 6,000 today, the objective is to reach 100,000 per year”, declares Mr. Zouiten. The most interesting thing is that the Chinese spend 2.6 times more than the European. Hence significant potential revenue.
Driven out by the attacks in Egypt and Turkey, Russian tourists in turn headed to Morocco, following various eductours and trips organized in Morocco for tourist operators and Russian journalists and bloggers. Ultimately, a 124% increase in Russian tourists was recorded between April and October 2016. Note that the coastal city of Agadir particularly benefited. The ONMT aspires to reach 200,000 Russian tourists/year.
Source: http://lavieeco.com/news/economie/le-secteur-touristique-finira-lannee-2016-dans-le-vert.html#ClTOyuFRohGWoujP.99
