Morocco wants to considerably increase its hotel capacity in view of the 2030 World Cup which it is organizing jointly with Spain and Portugal. To do this, the kingdom wants to seek the expertise of Dubai. Morocco plans to invest $50 billion to develop its transport infrastructure as well as tourism before 2030, the year in which it will co-host the Football World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal. In terms of tourism, Morocco is working to add 1.5 million new rooms to accommodate the 26 million tourists expected by this time. To achieve this objective, the kingdom plans to seek the expertise of Dubai, reports the arabianbusiness site.
“Dubai is a shining example and has become a hub for startups, the digital economy and the technology industry. So we would like to see how we can build an IT ecosystem in Morocco,” explains Anas Guennoun, vice-president of CGEM and new head of the UAE-Morocco Business Council. He continued: “A large number of Emirati companies are expected to operate in Morocco in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup. The objective is to attract companies with expertise in infrastructure and events.”
Guennoun highlights the close ties of cooperation between Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, recalling that this country is “Morocco’s largest Arab investor with more than 30 billion dollars – a figure which is expected to double following major agreements signed at the end of 2023”. For his part, tourism policy expert Zoubir Bouhoute, contacted by Challenge, expresses reservations for the addition of 1.5 million rooms by 2030. “The litter capacity in Morocco to date is around 280 or 290,000 beds. So when we say 290,000 beds, that equates to 145,000 rooms. With 145,000 rooms, we are far from the one and a half million rooms that we want to add,” he explains.
The expert will add: “In any case, Morocco plans to boost investments. Now the priority is the air. Thanks to air travel, we are recording significant volumes of arrivals. If we reach 500,000 beds by 2030, that’s already good, because the most important thing is the room occupancy rate. At the end of 2019, the room occupancy rate was 48%. And if we increase activity, we increase occupancy rates, we increase the volume of foreign visitors, particularly markets such as India, China, Brazil, North America, in addition to traditional markets. We have great prospects and many opportunities to seize…”
