The authority wants to give a boost to the tourism sector. Indeed, L’Economistereports in today’s delivery that a tourism acceleration plan will be unveiled on April 2 in Agadir. This roadmap, long awaited by professionals, aims to boost the Morocco destination and improve the offer.
According to the newspaper, the main axes of this acceleration plan are the promotion of air travel, a development plan for RAM (Royal Air Maroc), the execution of phases 3 and 4 of Open Sky, decentralization, digitalization of promotion, reframing of the offer, the financing aspect, training, support for regional investments, etc. We also learn that the authority expects 12 million tourists in 2018 and 15 million in 2020.
It should be noted that the authority has selected eight regions to be promoted, the driving forces of which will be Marrakech and Fez. In detail, each region will have a vocation (cultural, spiritual, seaside, MICE, desert, etc.). The Ministry of Tourism has already implemented the development of new tourist areas with a new model of resorts, very different from that adopted by the Azur plan which has shown its limits.
It should be noted that in terms of financing, the sector only manages to monopolize 2% of the credits allocated by the banks. L’Economiste also specifies that operators lack visibility. We also learn that as part of this acceleration plan, the authority is working on mechanisms aimed at supporting investments in the regions. Professionals believe in particular that the tools existing today are not adapted to the situation.
This plan will be like the one that Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Minister of Industry, launched in 2016 to support the industrial sector, or even like the Green Morocco Plan. Therefore, financing mechanisms are being studied. L’Economiste discusses the establishment of a defeasance fund to liquidate overdue debts. Said tourism acceleration plan will also focus on promoting the role of low-cost in the development of the destination.
Particular attention will also be paid to the fight against the informal sector. Moreover, the supervisory authority is in advanced discussions with Airbnb in order to integrate the formal circuit.
source: le360.ma
