One million British tourists in 2020. This is Morocco’s objective for this large tourist supply market in the world with nearly 60 million travelers per year. Morocco, which attracts nearly 700,000 tourists from the United Kingdom, therefore aims to reach one million British tourists by 2020.
An ambitious objective given the circumstances – the drop in the value of the pound and the unknown effects of Brexit – although Morocco anticipated by sealing a comprehensive association agreement with the United Kingdom, restoring, in the context of bilateral relations, all the advantages that they mutually granted within the framework of the Morocco-European Union Association Agreement.
For tourism, we must not omit other factors such as the disappearance of one of the largest British TOs, Thomas Cook, which alone was to attract nearly 120,000 tourists (cf. L’Economiste n° 5599 of 09/24/2019). The Office has since undertaken action plans to recover lost market shares. However, the market also evolves depending on the budget allocated to it.
Unfortunately, Office managers remain discreet on this subject. For their part, professionals are launching offensives with a large delegation of tour operators and hoteliers participating in the 40th edition of the World Travel Market scheduled for November 4 to 6, one of the largest tourism fairs in the world. More than 5,000 exhibitors from more than 180 countries and 9,000 buyers are expected at this high mass.
The ONMT will be present with a space of 525 m2 including 50 m2 dedicated to Agadir. This space will bring together 36 Moroccan exhibitors including the CRT/CPT. In addition, 31 private establishments will have their own stand. Indeed, the United Kingdom remains the second source market after France for tourist cities like Agadir and Marrakech.
In 2018, the hotel establishments of the ocher city welcomed 214,000 British tourists who spent more than a million nights. Growth continued in 2019 with an increase of 17% at the end of August, but the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook will certainly have an impact on the other months. Marrakech professionals remain confident for this market.
“The Marrakech product corresponds perfectly to the expectations of British tourists and the number of air services is increasing,” puts this expert into perspective. The Marrakech CRT will also present the new 2019/2020 tourist products of the Marrakech/Safi Region: Marrakech Océan drive/Marrakech D ésert drive/Marrakech Mountain drive.
source: leconomiste.com
