“Since Morocco announced visa waiver for Chinese citizens in June 2016, the number of Chinese tourists to Morocco has increased rapidly and the boom is far from stopping,”reports Global Times.
According to the representative office of the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) in China, 120,000 Chinese nationals visited the kingdom in 2017. But in the first five months of this year, this number has already reached 100,000.
Liu Mei, owner of a Chinese restaurant in Rabat, told Xinhua that after the visa waiver for Chinese citizens, the number of Chinese tourists at his restaurant increased significantly.
In 2017, his restaurant’s turnover doubled compared to the previous year.
Huang Zhiyong, a restaurateur in Casablanca, said his restaurant was also doing good business. At present, it receives an average of 6,000 customers per month, of which 70% are Chinese tourists and businessmen.
Before the visa waiver for Chinese citizens, the number of Chinese restaurants in Morocco was no more than five. Currently, the number has increased to more than 20.
CHINESE TRAVEL OPERATORS SATISFIED WITH THE TREND
As a well-known Chinese travel agency in Morocco, AMC Voyages is very optimistic about the tourism market in Morocco. Its director, Lin Chaoxin, told Xinhua that since the visa waiver policy was launched in June 2016, Chinese tourists have shown increasing interest in visiting Morocco. In 2018, the number of Chinese tourists received by AMC Voyages is expected to double compared to 2016.
He said Morocco has unique tourism resources and the number of Chinese travelers to the kingdom in the next decade will continue to increase. A trend confirmed by the Chinese Ambassador to Morocco, Li Li, who said that since Morocco’s visa exemption for Chinese citizens, the number of Chinese tourists has increased significantly, ranking first in the growth of foreign tourists in the kingdom.
Li said that with 2018 marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Morocco“will take the opportunity to deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, including tourism.”
Hundreds of Chinese are employed in Morocco’s tourism industry. Zhang Kai, an Arabic language graduate from Beijing Foreign Studies University who has been working in the sector in Morocco for two years, believes that the influx of Chinese tourists should continue.
