The Minister of Tourism, air transport, crafts and social economy, Mohamed Sajid, announced, Monday in New Delhi, the opening of an office of the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) intended to promote the Kingdom’s tourism offering.
“The opening of this new ONMT office in India constitutes a first step towards promoting Morocco as a destination of choice for Indians and strengthening tourism investment between the two countries,” noted Mr. Sajid, in a statement to MAP. This initiative also aims to bring the Moroccan tourism product closer to the Indian market which offers a great opportunity in terms of human capital and economic development, judged the minister, on a three-day visit to India at the head of a large delegation.
“This office will help us develop various strategic promotion and awareness programs to tap the highly developed tourism sector in India and promote preferred destination orientation like the Asian tourism market,” said the government official.
Morocco, which is one of the most captivating destinations in the world, is preparing to put in place several measures to welcome more Indian tourists in 2019, he said. “China remains a better example.
After the opening of an office of the Moroccan National Tourism Office in 2015, the influx of Chinese tourists to Morocco increased significantly to reach 120,000 visitors in 2017, with the objective of welcoming 200,000 tourists in 2018,” he said.
For his part, the Director General of the Moroccan National Tourism Office, Adil El Fakir, believes that the inauguration of the ONMT office in New Delhi is an opportunity to conquer the Indian market with a population of 1.3 billion inhabitants. “Only 15,000 Indian tourists visited Morocco in 2017.
This figure remains very low compared to India’s population and the level of bilateral relations. Our objective is therefore to increase the number of Indian tourists in the coming years,” he said.
Tourism remains an essential pillar of the Moroccan economy and the country’s second source of employment after agriculture, underlined Mr. El Fakir, adding that the Kingdom, which has 17 ONMT offices around the world, is banking on the sector to boost economic growth, which requires a better Moroccan strategic campaign in India. A memorandum of understanding was signed earlier today between the Moroccan Society of Tourism Engineering (SMIT) and the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to promote tourism investment and encourage the exchange of expertise between the two countries.
source:infomediaire.net
