TOURISM – Improved prospects for tourism in Marrakech in 2018. A total of 13 new tourist projects will be launched in the ocher city and will therefore strengthen its hotel offering. Good news announced by the regional delegate for Tourism in Marrakech, Fadoua Chbani Idrissi, in a statement to MAP.
20% more overnight stays in 2018
According to this manager, this support had already proven its worth since the city was able to improve its tourism product by creating 22,500 additional beds since 2010, thanks to investment support. It is this same recipe that the Regional Delegation wishes to reiterate in 2018 by planning to maintain the annual rate of growth (+20%) of nights recorded in classified tourist accommodation establishments.
The year 2017 has already seen substantial progress in terms of arrivals and overnight stays at these establishments. Arrivals in hotels and other forms of classified tourist accommodation thus increased by 19% during the first 10 months of the current year, compared to the same period of the previous year, recording a total of more than 1.9 million arrivals at the end of October 2017. Nights recorded, for their part, growth of around 18% reaching 6.5 million nights.
This good performance is driven by Morocco’s main traditional markets, namely Germany, whose arrivals increased by 57%, Spain (38%), Italy (28%), France (18%), the internal market with (9%), but also by the development of new emerging markets, notably China and the Scandinavian countries.
The COP22 publicity stunt
Encouraging results which would be due, first of all, to the success of COP22, explains Fadoua Chbani. “The great success of the event honors Morocco and Marrakech. It demonstrates that this destination is attractive, secure and capable of organizing large-scale events,” she underlined.
On the air transport side, the opening of the new terminal at Marrakech-Menara airport also made it possible to attract more tourists and therefore increase the number of arrivals at border crossings, with the launch of new airlines from new markets (including to internal destinations) and the strengthening of flight frequencies to the main source markets. This extension increased the airport’s capacity to 9 million passengers per year.
Note that as part of his department’s actions to improve the tourist environment, Fadoua Chbani indicated that the Delegation has carried out, since 2014, a relentless pursuit of informal accommodation establishments and has been able to regularize the situation of more than 300 unclassified guest houses.
source: huffpostmaghreb.com
