World Tourism Day, celebrated on September 27, is an opportunity to promote universal accessibility for everyone to tourism, which has now established itself as one of the important industries providers of employment and rises to the rank of powerful locomotives of economic growth. Aware of the relevance of this questioning and the need to reinvent tourism for the 21st century, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has placed, this year, the world day which will be hosted by Côte d’Ivoire, under the theme « Tourism and inclusive growth ». The choice made for this subject is not accidental, since this UN institution aims to highlight the capacity of this sector to promote inclusive development, and the opportunities it offers to millions of people around the world. It is in this sense that the Secretary General of the UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili, underlined that by celebrating this day, the Organization affirms its commitment to ensuring that the benefits generated by the development of tourism benefit this vast and diversified sector and at all levels, from the largest airline to the smallest family business. A commitment which is intended to be “timely and necessary” according to Mr. Pololikashvili who underlines that the interruption of international travel caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of tourism for any society. To this end, he noted that to have inclusive growth, it is imperative to rally everyone around a better vision of tourism. “Only in this way can the restart of tourism benefit the people and communities who need it most and, in turn, lay the foundations for a better future for all,” he said. In the same wake, the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, noted, in a message published on the occasion of this day, that it is high time to rethink tourism, transform it and relaunch it safely. “As long as adequate protection measures are in place, this sector can be a source of decent jobs and contribute to building resilient, sustainable, gender-equal and inclusive economies and societies for the benefit of all,” he noted. Thus, the manager called for targeted measures to be taken and investment in the transition to green tourism, with high-emission sectors, notably air and maritime transport and the hotel industry, having to move towards carbon neutrality. It is also a question, according to Mr. Gu Terres, of establishing an open decision-making process, which will allow global tourism to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth, to keep the promises associated with the Sustainable Development Goals and to develop this sector in such a way as to exploit its potential as an engine of prosperity, a vector of integration, a means of protecting the planet and an agent of mutual understanding between cultures.
Morocco: Inclusive growth is essential
In Morocco, interest in inclusive tourism is not new. More than a decade ago, the Kingdom demonstrated its desire to promote tourism that regenerates destinations and brings economic, social and environmental benefits, without losing sight of global challenges such as climate change. The vice-president of the National Tourism Confederation (CNT), Fouzi Zemrani, underlined that this year’s theme recalls the public and private commitments of this sector since 2011 and more precisely during the signing of the 2020 vision program contract, before His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
« In this program contract, he continued, there was an entire chapter devoted to sustainable and responsible tourism. Coming out of this pandemic, responsible tourism is a response to the expectations of tourists who want to participate in development communities in the search for a true social, economic and environmental balance. »
M. Zemrani also specified that the growth which must occur following these two years of « imposed scarcity », must by force of circumstances include the entire tourism value chain, which is not limited to the classic tourism professions as defined by article 20 of the Vision 2010 program contract. It is in this regard that he maintained that Moroccan tourism is rich in a diversity of micro-enterprises which have established themselves during the last decade by offering a plethora of offers. of services, which respond to a demand that so-called structured companies cannot satisfy.
And to recall that the generalization of social coverage, decreed by HM the King to all Moroccans, constitutes a real beginning of a response to inclusion, underlining the imperative to go further far, to allow all players in this same sector to live with dignity from their know-how, while respecting a certain ethics and creating a climate of trust with visitors.
Today, governments, civil society, destinations and businesses, are all called upon to join forces to revive this sector which affects almost all aspects of our economies and whose importance is more obvious than ever to all the parts of society.
