The Morocco destination confirms its resilience
Contrary to what one might believe, the Morocco destination is “touristically” strong. In an unfavorable international context, Morocco was able to do well and gain the trust of its global partners.
It is this positive image that operators in the sector highlighted during a meeting with the press organized on Monday, December 19, in Casablanca. The presidents of the National Tourism Confederation (CNT), the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) and the regional tourism councils were unanimous in emphasizing the resilience of the Morocco tourism brand. The positive behavior of Moroccan tourist activity is illustrated by a good performance of revenues. The latter made an appreciable contribution to foreign currency reserves. A historic peak of 4.1% was observed at the end of November, representing revenues of around 59.4 billion dirhams. “With this achievement, the sector rises to the rank of the leading foreign exchange-contributing sector of the national economy,” underlined the professionals. Operators are counting on a positive development of around 1.5% for arrivals.
“This result is the result of the strategy of diversification into other markets such as China and Russia,” they indicated.
Arrivals from these two markets increased significantly over the first eleven months of the year. Russian arrivals have increased by 300% in Agadir, thanks to an ambitious promotional plan for this destination. Likewise, arrivals from China have increased fivefold since the decision to abolish the visa. In order to consolidate these performances, operators are charting promising prospects for the Morocco tourism brand and are engaging in a general mobilization to further promote the Morocco destination. To this end, numerous actions are planned. Digital communication around the Morocco destination will be increasingly strengthened through the launch of the new portal “VisitMorocco.com”. Available in 11 languages, this platform will be a site of immersion, inspiration and reassurance. Likewise, the destination’s presence strategy on social networks will also be consolidated. This will be done through a monitoring policy which will ensure better management of e-reputation, while taking into account suggestions from bloggers and influencers. Content adapted to digital will also be developed with the aim of presenting the different destinations in “virtual reality VR 360”. Furthermore, the year 2017 will be marked by the strengthening of air accessibility to the different regions of Morocco at attractive prices. Emphasis will be placed on underserved regions. Examples include Agadir, Saïdia, Marrakech, Fez and southern Morocco. Regions where very significant tourism investments are made. The first air bases will be operational from April 2017, in Fez and Agadir. Likewise, more than 50 new air services will be launched in 2017. Positive levers will mark the year, in particular with the return of Air France on the Paris-Marrakech route and the flights of the company WizzAir on the Warsaw-Agadir line.
Note that operators will also develop rural tourism especially in remote regions. Among the projects planned for 2017, the organization of an African tourism fair in Morocco which will breathe new life into intra-African tourism.
Source: Morocco today
