The dashboard shows increasing statistics for this first half, but the objective of 20 million tourists by 2020 will be impossible to achieve. Stays via the Airbnb platform, which attracts many visitors, are not taken into account.
Tourism in Morocco had a fairly good first part of the year according to statistics from the Tourism Observatory (OTM) chaired by Said Mouhid. Thus, over the first six months of the year, the kingdom welcomed 5.4 million international tourists. A figure up 6.6% compared to 2018. Remember that the OTM includes Moroccans living abroad (MRE) in these statistics. More than 2 million of them came to Morocco between January and June of this year, or more than a third of the total, up 7.1%. Said Mouhid’s teams explain that more than half a million MRE landed in Morocco during the month of June alone which coincided with the Ramadan fast.
The Observatory also underlines that tourism in Morocco remains extremely linked to a few sending markets, which all performed well, showing increased arrivals. These include, for example, Italy (+12%), followed by France (+9%), Spain (+8%), Germany (+8%), Holland (+7%), Belgium (+6%), the United Kingdom (+6%) and the United States (+14%). Following the same pace, foreign currency revenues generated by tourism increased by 4.2%, compared to the end of June 2018, to reach 32.7 billion dirhams.
During the first six months of the year, overnight stays in classified tourist accommodation establishments also experienced a fairly significant increase. Until June 30, a total of 11.46 million room nights were paid, an increase of 5% compared to the same period last year. Foreign tourists, including MRE, account for 72% of this figure, or 8.3 million overnight stays (+4.3%). Residents accumulated more than 3.1 million overnight stays over the same period, an increase of 8.5%.
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According to hoteliers’ statistics, French tourists are those who top the list of overnight stays, with a total of 2.36 million. The English are in second place with 1 million overnight stays followed by the Germans who paid for 896,280 overnight stays.
Marrakech remains the most popular destination for tourists with nearly 4 million overnight stays recorded. The Agadir-Taghazout region which, with the ocher city, was able to absorb the most visitors, was entitled to 2.65 million overnight stays. Third place goes to Casablanca, with 1.03 million overnight stays, the economic capital is chosen by business tourists and city-break enthusiasts (short trips, two to five days).
source: jeuneafrique.com
