In 2016, 10.3 million tourists visited the kingdom, up 1.5% compared to 2015, according to the Moroccan Tourism Observatory. A “performance” deemed “honorable and positive” by Said Mouhid, president of the Moroccan Tourism Observatory. “We are in a difficult international context, marked by many obstacles to travel,” Mouhid underlines to AFP. While tourism in Tunisia, Turkey and even Egypt has been hit hard by jihadist attacks in recent years, the kingdom has not experienced an attack since the 2011 attack on Jamaa el Fna square in Marrakech, which left 17 dead (including 8 French)
But the terrorist threat is real. This is evidenced by the recurring announcements by the authorities of the dismantling of jihadist cells. A key security partner of European countries, Morocco leads an offensive security policy. Because tourism is a key sector of the Moroccan economy. It accounts for 10% of national wealth. With exports and financial transfers from Moroccans living abroad, it is one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency and its second largest employer.
– Resilience –
In addition to the slightly increasing number of arrivals, the sector’s revenues amounted to 5.94 billion euros, an increase of 3.4%, with an increase in overnight stays of 4.5%. “These figures prove the resilience of Moroccan tourism, even if they remain below our ambitions,” recognizes Mouhid. “Last year was better than 2015. And the first two months of 2017 augur an even better year,” rejoices Hanane, manager of a riad in the medina of Rabat, between Andalusian houses and artisan shops of all kinds.
Tourists always flock to Rue des Consuls, one of the main arteries of the medina, or to the gardens of the neighboring Oudayas fortress. “The Europeans still come out on top, but the Chinese are more and more numerous,” observes Hanane. “Since visas for Chinese were removed in June, a door has been opened.” “We had to do more prospecting to get through it. The economic situation is pushing us to look for new markets outside Europe. But overall, we can say that there was a slight recovery in 2016,” confides Karim, boss of a travel agency in Casablanca.
– Lackluster and disappointing –
In 2010, Morocco launched an ambitious program called « Vision 2020 », aiming to increase the number of tourists to 20 million by 2020 with 200,000 additional beds. But its balance sheet was judged “very weak” by the Court of Auditors. “The target of 20 million was set in 2010, and in the meantime, a lot of things have changed. Vision 2020 has been disrupted by many international factors,” concedes Mouhid. “We will not reach 20 million in 2020, that is certain, but it remains a symbolic figure to mobilize operators.”
The authorities are also betting on new source markets, targeting Russia and China in particular. Despite a few thousand additional arrivals, Russians and Chinese do not exceed 100,000. The French still constitute – and by far – the leading contingent of tourists, with almost a third of arrivals, followed by the Spanish. For these two nationalities, many are of Moroccan origin (Moroccans living abroad are counted as tourists).
For the Moroccan press, Morocco is struggling to cross “the fateful threshold of 10 million” visitors that it reached for the first time in 2013, speaking of a “lackluster and disappointing” record and a “failure passed over in silence”. The media estimate that it is thanks to MREs, who represent almost half of arrivals, that the tourist year was « saved », recalling that their number increased by 4% in 2016, while the number of foreign tourists fell by 0.9%.
