Direct flights between Morocco and Israel are planned for soon. Israeli airlines El Al and IsrAir connect Tel Aviv to Marrakech from this Sunday, July 25. For Moroccan tourism, what will be the benefits of this direct air connection between the two countries? Should these air connections be launched in the context of the covid-19 pandemic? Is Israel a source market for tourists? Answers from Zoubir Bouhoute, Tourism Expert.
Challenge: The long-awaited direct flights will begin, this July 25, 2021, to connect Israel and Morocco with the arrival in Marrakech of the first groups of Israeli tourists. How many Israeli tourists are expected with the involvement of Israeli companies in the Morocco destination?
Zoubir Bouhoute: Highly anticipated after a postponement of several months due to health restrictions in Morocco and Israel, these flights of approximately 5 hours at a price of 5,000 DH return will be operated by the largest Israeli company “El Al” which will serve Marrakech today July 25 and whose arrival is scheduled around 12:55 p.m.; the flight of the second company “IsrAir” will also arrive at the ocher city the same day around 4:00 p.m.
The third company “Arkia” will operate its flights from August 4. These three companies which will connect Marrakech and Casablanca to Tel Aviv aim to transport 38,000 passengers to Morocco by the end of the year and the national company Royal Air Maroc will transport around 12,000 passengers by the end of 2021.
If in total the number of Israeli tourists will be around 50,000 by the end of the year, Morocco is counting on 200,000 per year in a normal year, a figure expected to increase given the potential presented in particular by the Moroccan community in Israel and whose number is around 800,000 people.
Also read | Tel Aviv – Marrakech: departure of the first direct flights this Sunday
Challenge: However, the launch of these flights coincides with the recent appearance of the Delta variant, which does not exclude a new closure of air borders, especially with the deterioration of the health situation in Morocco…
Z.B: It is true that in Morocco, the number of new cases almost tripled for a month and the 7-day average went from 389 for the week ending June 23 to 2,559 for the week ending July 22, 2021.
On the other hand, although Israel experienced a slight deterioration in new cases which went from 146 with a weekly average of 72 on June 23 to 1434 new cases with a weekly average of 1102 cases on July 22, the situation remains very well under control in terms of deaths which have remained well below three deaths during the last 30 days.
However, progress in vaccination in both countries constitutes a determining element for the consolidation of their relations.
The number of fully vaccinated people in Israel as of July 22 reached 5,283,198 (58.4% of the population), with 5,755,067 having received the first dose (63.6%)
For its part, Morocco, African champion in terms of vaccination, managed to fully vaccinate 9,739,655 individuals (26.7% of the population), 11,568,127 people received the first dose (31.7%).
This means that if the flow for the year 2021 remains lower than the figures achieved during normal years before the pandemic (around 70 tourists arriving in Morocco by indirect flights), 2022 should be the year of beginning of the conquest of this market due to several elements, notably of an economic nature.
Challenge: Can Israel be considered a tourist source market?
Z.B: It should be noted that the number of departures of Israeli tourists abroad more than doubled between 2010 and 2019. From 4,269,100 departures abroad in 2010, this figure increased to 9,178,600 (+115%).
Total outbound tourism spending (not including air transport) increased from $3.9 billion in 2012 to $7.66 billion in 2018 (+96.1% in 6 years). The average expenditure per tourist is around $950 on average between 2012 and 2018.
source: challenge.ma
