Covid-19: domestic tourism, a strategic choice or an escape route?

Covid-19 is a Trafalgar blow. It has bedridden the tourism sector. the latter recognized as very vulnerable and sensitive to the economic and political situation was unable to hold off the virus.  The sector is not at its first plunge, but each time it has been able to resurface, notably thanks to the support of public authorities. Apart from the crisis associated with Covid-19 and in 2019 alone, the sector benefited from 187 MDH in tax expenditures. But this time the convalescence bill turns out to be prohibitively expensive. In fact, public support is requested by several operators. Many will say that this sector is a priority and must capture all the interest of said public authorities.

Between Morocco and tourism, it’s a love story that goes back a long way. The physiocratic leaning of Morocco’s economic policy, considering that nature is the only source of wealth, makes tourism a strategic choice. This choice, apart from a few debacles generally suffered, has proven to be profitable in the eyes of several analysts. Indeed, the sector contributes 6.9% to national GDP in 2018, compared to 6.8% in 2017. It represents 16.84% of exports in 2018, compared to 16.24% in 2017. It seriously contributes to reducing the balance of payment deficit. Indeed, the travel balance coverage rate stood at 3.76 in 2019 compared to 3.93 in 2018.

However, although comparison is not right, Morocco seems to have bet on the wrong horse.  By generating revenue of around $9.52 billion for the year 2018, the Moroccan tourism sector is far from competing with the countries with which we share the Mediterranean or continental space. For fans of figures, we recall that for the same year, Spain made a revenue of around $81.25 billion, Portugal made a revenue of $15.48 billion, Greece made a revenue of $21.59 billion and Egypt made a revenue of $12.70 billion.  Morocco’s tourism revenues achieved an average annual growth rate of 3.39% between 2012 and 2019.

In terms of the number of arrivals, Morocco welcomed, for the year 2018, 12,289,000 tourists, while Spain welcomed 83,773,000, Portugal received 16,186,000 tourists, Greece recorded 30,123,000 entries and Egypt recorded 11,196,000 entries. The number of arrivals in Morocco achieved an average annual growth rate of 4.62% between 2012 and 2019.

It appears that arrivals are growing more significantly than revenues. This observation reveals a reality from which national tourism suffers, namely that a large part of tourist spending does not reach the national economy.

In terms of the contribution of the tourism sector to national wealth, currently established at 6.9%, it is lower than the world average set at 9.10%. The tourism satellite account issued by the HCP, for the year 2018, shows that tourism production increased from 109.31 billion DH in 2017 to 115.55 billion DH in 2018. The added value of the sector increased from 58.13 billion DH in 2017 to 61.58 billion DH in 2018.

No one can ignore the significant effect of tourism on employment. In fact, this sector employs more than 900,000 direct jobs. But the added value of the sector does not provide information on its macroeconomic impact. The added value of the sector is the victim of several leaks which alter the overall performance of this sector in the national economy. These leaks are both internal and external.

Leaks from the sector

Indeed, Morocco, by eating into the hands of tour operators, allows a good part of the price of the trip not to leave the issuing country. As an indication, these tour operators prefer to deal with their own airlines or with local companies. Knowing that, and according to statistics from the World Tourism Organization, 6 out of 10 tourists arrive in their destination countries by air and that 46% to 58% of the price of the trip is made up of air transport, the loss is therefore significant.

source:ecoactu.ma