The recovery of tourism is confirmed for many African countries. This is particularly the case for Morocco and, to a lesser extent, Tunisia where performances, at the end of the first quarter of 2023, exceed those of 2019, the sector’s reference year. A situation which bodes well for the rest of the year. As expected, the recovery of the tourism sector is confirmed. Everywhere the sector indicators are green. In Africa, many countries are showing good performance at the end of the first quarter of the current year, compared to last year, but especially compared to the same period of 2019, a reference year for the global tourism sector. Thus, according to data from the World Tourism Organization relating to the first quarter of 2023, Middle Eastern countries (including Egypt) have exceeded their 2019 achievements with a recovery rate of 115%. As for African countries, the recovery rate is progressing to 88%. According to this data, the best progress in terms of tourist arrivals was made by Ethiopia (+46%), ahead of Tanzania (+21%), Morocco (+17%). Read also: Morocco and Egypt, strategies to attract between 26 and 30 million tourists in 2030 In the Maghreb, Morocco confirms its rank as one of the leaders in African tourism alongside Egypt. Thus, according to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Morocco welcomed 2.9 million tourists at the end of the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 17% compared to the same period of 2019, knowing that the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 were marked by exceptional events including the impacts of Covid-19. This strong growth is driven by many major markets, notably Spanish, British and Italian which recorded exceptional growth of 45%, 28% and 9% respectively. On the revenue side, the development is exceptional with 25 billion dirhams, or 2.5 billion dollars, in revenue collected during the first three months of the year, according to the Foreign Exchange Office, compared to 10.36 billion dirhams during the same period of last year. These revenues were 17.21 billion dirhams in the first quarter of 2020 and 16.48 billion at the end of March 2019. The confirmation of the recovery of the global tourism sector, the effects of offensive promotional actions carried out in 2022 and during the first quarter of 2023 by the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) should contribute to the increase in arrivals during the rest of the year. It will also be necessary to count on the strengthening of marketing efforts and the improvement of air connectivity with the announced opening of 35 new lines serving 8 Moroccan destinations. The expected result is to allow the kingdom to beat its record of 13 million visitors in 2019. The achievements recorded are in line with the objectives of the 2023-2026 roadmap of the supervisory ministry. On the Tunisian side too, the achievements are positive but mixed. Tourist arrivals increased, at the end of March 2023, by 3% compared to the same period of 2019 to stand at 1.61 million arrivals. However, Tunisian hotels recorded only 2.43 million overnight stays, a level down 22.3% compared to the first quarter of 2019. However, revenues performed better, standing at 1 billion Tunisian dinars, or $324 million, up 17.1% compared to the same period of 2019. The outlook for tourist arrivals is good for the rest of the year. However, professionals are a little worried about the real impacts that the attack in Djerba, Tuesday May 9, against the Ghriba synagogue, which cost the lives of five people, could have.
source: le360.ma
