Good news for the Moroccan tourism sector: the country will reopen its borders on February 7. An announcement which puts an end to the climate of uncertainty and gives hope to professionals in the heavily damaged sector.
Following the recommendations of the scientific committee and the improvement of the health situation in the country, the Moroccan government announced on January 27, at the end of the day, the reopening of the airspace from February 7. This decision comes 24 hours after the proclamation of the state of health emergency, which will be maintained until February 28. Travelers to Morocco must, however, be triple vaccinated and meet other conditions which will be specified in the coming days, as indicated in the official press release.
A necessary reopening
Coming a week after the date initially set for January 31, this reopening will nevertheless put an end to a gloomy period, to say the least.
Since November 29, all international commercial travel to Morocco has been suspended. As a direct consequence of the pandemic, tourism-related revenues have decreased by 69% with losses estimated at 82 billion dirhams (7.81 billion euros) since the start of the pandemic, according to the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office.
Interviewed by Jeune Afrique, Zoubir Bouhoute, tourism advisor and president of the Ouarzazate Provincial Tourism Council, revealed that, every day, according to his calculations, professionals in the sector lost more than 26 million euros, with a considerable impact on the national economy given the contribution of tourism to Morocco’s GDP (more than 8%).
