By welcoming 10.9 million tourists in 2022 compared to 12.9 million in 2019, the Morocco destination has recovered 84% of its pre-Covid-19 activity, according to Fatim-Zahra Ammor, Minister of Tourism, Crafts and the Social Economy. If national airports have recovered 82.12% of their traffic and 83.02% of their airport movements in 2022 compared to 2019, tourist accommodation establishments (EHT) are, for their part, at 84% of their activity compared to the same reference year. “Morocco welcomed 10.9 million tourists, or nearly 11 million, knowing that the international recovery rate did not exceed 65%,” announced Fatim-Zahra Ammor, Minister of Tourism, Crafts and Social Economy during the oral questions session, held this Monday, January 23, 2023 in the House of Representatives. The same trend is observed in terms of tourism receipts. In comparison with 2019, travel receipts exceeded their pre-crisis level, i.e. 112% at the end of November 2022. They thus accumulated an amount of MAD 81.7 billion during the first 11 months of 2022, according to the minister. While awaiting figures from the Foreign Exchange Office for the month of December, estimates made by Bank Al-Maghrib are counting on an improvement of MAD 88.8 billion. According to several experts, this projection, although linked to the context of resumption of tourist activity since the relaunch of flights in February 2022, is partly attributable to inflation. They estimate, in fact, that during the 2019 season, the tourism sector generated 78.6 billion dirhams thanks to the stays of 12.9 million tourists, i.e. a gap of 16% in terms of arrivals compared to 2022. Nights: 73% recovery rate, according to estimates As for overnight stays, the destination Morocco generated 25.2 million in 2019. According to estimates, and pending publication official figures, the sector should end the year with more than 18.5 million overnight stays, or more than 73% recovery rate. In 2023, the objective now – as part of this context of tourism recovery – is to gradually accelerate the pace by doubling the figure achieved in 2019. On the one hand, by capturing 17 million tourists by 2026 and, on the other hand, by reaching the record figure of 26 million in 2030. To do this, the roadmap is structured, according to the minister, around three main axes: security the maximum number of seats, through the development of air connectivity. (In this sense, the objective for 2023 is to target 8.2 million ONMT seats in terms of projected capacity). The two other axes of this roadmap rely on stimulating private investment and structuring the hotel offer based on upgrading the existing hotel stock and creating new hotel capacities in order to better meet tourist demand. Note that this recovery in activity is essentially attributable to the emergency plan, signed on January 18, 2022, consisting of a budget envelope of MAD 2 billion in order to ensure the financial support necessary for the revival of the sector, particularly for tourism professionals. It goes without saying that the five key measures of this plan have consolidated the resilience of the sector after more than 22 months of health crisis. Emergency plan: 737 beneficiary establishments Fatim-Zahra Ammor highlighted the emergency plan mentioned above, with a budget of 2 billion dirhams. “Of these 2 billion dirhams allocated to the emergency plan, half of this sum, i.e. 1 billion dirhams, was dedicated to upgrading hotel infrastructure so that tourists staying in Morocco are welcomed in the best conditions,” said the minister. Thus, 737 establishments were able to benefit from this aid. The second half of this budget envelope was dedicated to supporting professionals to help them face the crisis with, in particular, the extension of compensation of 2,000 dirhams, benefiting some 40,000 people. Let us also mention the postponement of the payment of contributions due to the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) and that of the reimbursement of bank loans with the payment of interest by the State. It should be noted, in this regard, that the number of requests received amounted to 1,800. It is worth recalling, in the same logic, the support by the State of the professional tax of hoteliers in favor of 1,350 units.
source: leseco.ma
