International tourism in the Middle East and North Africa showed clear signs of recovery in 2017 with growth rates of 5% and 13%, respectively. According to UNWTO forecasts, the Mena region is expected to receive 195 million international tourists by 2030
It is in a very favorable context that the Paris World Tourism Fair is being held from March 15 to 18. After two years weighed down by the attacks of 2015 and 2016, tourist numbers broke all records in 2017 in France, with some 89 million foreign visitors.
While tour operators achieved their best results in ten years, according to the professional union Seto. In addition to the flagship destinations of Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece) which attract ever more vacationers, Morocco and especially Tunisia are making a strong comeback in tour operators’ brochures for 2018. For example, for TUI France, a major tourist operator in France, Morocco is among the top destinations and is cited in the “good travel deals” category.
Remember that tourist arrivals finally reached 11.35 million at the end of 2017, an increase of 10% compared to a year earlier, according to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism. The majority of source markets recorded double-digit increases. Despite these performances, we are still far from the 20 million tourists expected for 2020. Professionals aspire to a revival of the sector (see our edition No. 5194 01/24/2018).
Overall, global tourism is growing strongly and the strong momentum is expected to continue in 2018. But at a “more moderate pace after the eight years of constant expansion that were recorded following the economic and financial crisis of 2009”, according to the outlook of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). This estimates that international tourist arrivals worldwide will increase by 4 to 5% in 2018.
A rate higher than the average of 3.8% projected by the UNWTO for the period 2010-2020 in its long-term forecast document “Tourism towards 2030”. Europe and the Americas are expected to grow by 3.5%-4.5%, Asia-Pacific by 5%-6%, Africa by 5%-7% and the Middle East by 4%-6%. In 2017, international tourist arrivals jumped 7% to a total of 1.322 billion. This dynamic can be explained by “sustained growth in many destinations and a clear recovery in those which had suffered a decline in previous years”.
These results are partly attributable to “global economic growth and strong demand from outbound tourism from many traditional and emerging markets”.
Mediterranean destinations in the lead, Europe is showing excellent results with 8% more international arrivals than in 2016. Taking into account the data available for Africa, growth in this region is estimated at 8% in 2017.
The continent consolidated its 2016 rebound and reached a record figure of 62 million international arrivals. North Africa benefited from a strong recovery with arrivals up 13%, while those from Sub-Saharan Africa increased by 5%.
The Middle East (+5%) reported 58 million international tourist arrivals in 2017 with sustained growth in some destinations and a strong recovery in others.
source: Morocco today
