A total of 8 million tourists visited Morocco between January and August 2017, a figure up 10.4% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the Tourism Observatory.
The number of foreign tourists (TES) increased by 13.1%, while arrivals of Moroccans living abroad (MRE) increased by 8.1%, specifies the Observatory which has just published a report detailing statistics on national tourism.
Boom in the number of Asian tourists
Indeed, the main source markets experienced an increase in arrivals during this same period, in particular Germany (+14%), the Netherlands (+10%), Spain (+10%), France (+8%) and Belgium (+8%).
As for emerging tourism markets, they are maintaining their upward trend with +315% for China, +43% for Japan, +41% for South Korea, +32% for the United States and +52% for Brazil, notes the Observatory.
This positive trend was also observed in terms of tourist nights spent in classified tourist accommodation establishments, which recorded an increase of 15% compared to the end of August 2016 (+19% for non-resident tourists and +8% for residents).
Increases in Fez and Tangier
The two tourist centers Marrakech and Agadir alone generated 60% of total nights during the first eight months of the current year, marking respective increases of +18% and +12%, specifies the same source.
The kingdom’s other tourist destinations also posted good performances, in particular the cities of Fez and Tangier with increases of +36% and +26% respectively, we add.
Moreover, revenues generated by the tourist activity of non-residents in Morocco amounted to nearly 46.8 billion dirhams at the end of August, compared to 44.5 billion dirhams a year earlier, an increase of 5%.
During the month of August 2017 alone, the number of tourist arrivals at border crossings increased by 21% compared to that of 2016 (+10.5% for TES and +27.5% for MRE), indicates the Observatory.
source: huffpostmaghreb
