Due to its tourist potential, its cultural richness and its religious diversity, Marrakech continues to welcome, since the launch of direct commercial flights from Israel, hundreds of Israeli tourists who come to discover the charm and magic of the ocher city and its hinterland.
This ancient culture was in the spotlight last Thursday as part of a Moroccan-Israeli cultural day organized by a hotel establishment which welcomes more than 250 Israeli tourists (according to figures from the Regional Tourism Council), to seal a cultural mix of the Moroccan and Israeli people, eight months after the signing of the Morocco/United States/Israel tripartite agreement.
The artisans and various service providers from the legendary Jamaâ El Fna square came, on this occasion, to this hotel establishment, to highlight the richness, diversity and singularity of Moroccan craftsmanship, which reflects the ancestral cultural richness and which is among the jewels of the cultural and artistic heritage of the Kingdom.
Jospeh Gabison, director of an Israeli travel agency, did not fail to express his admiration for the cultural wealth of the Kingdom, a country “with a breathtaking human warmth which has reigned for decades, in particular thanks to the open-mindedness and foresight of HM the King
Mohammed VI, as well as that of the late H.M. Hassan II and the late H.M. Mohammed V.”
“We are proud to bring many Israelis thanks to the regular flights between Tel Aviv and Marrakech and we hope that this will develop further,” he indicated, stressing that Israeli tourists, in particular the approximately 800,000 Israelis of Moroccan ancestry who have kept very strong links with their country of origin, are eager to return to their roots.
In this sense, Mr. Gabison indicated that his agency is receiving more and more requests from vacationers wishing to make the pilgrimage to the tombs of the great rabbis in Morocco, noting that in addition to religious tourism, Israeli tourists are fascinated by the historical and geographical wealth of the Kingdom.
Following in his footsteps, Raphaél Ozin, an Israeli tourist who came with his family from Tel Aviv to spend his first vacation in the Kingdom, expressed his great joy at being in Morocco. “I am very happy to be among the first tourists who arrived directly from Israel. “It’s an exceptional event,” he said.
For his part, Marc Scalia, the star host of the 1980s on NRJ radio, expressed his honor and pride at being on board the first flights from Tel Aviv which landed in Morocco, precisely in Marrakech, calling for the development of fraternity between the Moroccan and Israeli people.
Regarding the tourist experience in the ocher city, Mr. Scali, village chief of an Israeli group visiting Marrakech, was full of praise for the climate, the hospitality and the magnificent welcome that Marrakech reserves for its guests and visitors. “We feel good in Marrakech, we want to stay there and we will come back,” he stressed.
Last month, the first two direct commercial flights providing the Tel-Aviv/Marrakech connection, operated by the Israeli companies “El Al” and “Israir”, landed on the tarmac of Marrakech-Menara international airport, marking the arrival of the first Israeli tourists in the Kingdom. With a Moroccan diaspora estimated at 800,000 people, the Israeli market represents strong potential for the Morocco destination, according to the Moroccan National Tourism Office, which specifies that currently, between 50,000 and 80,000 Israelis visit the Kingdom annually.
This figure is expected to grow with the multiplication of air connections between the two countries, estimates the same source, adding that some 200,000 Israeli visitors could be expected from the first year in the different segments: family or religious tourism, leisure tourism, business trips and MICE.
source: lematin.ma
