The package tourist destinations once popular with the French are no longer. The face of French tourism outside France, as Les Echos writes, has been profoundly transformed. At the origin of this mutation, three factors: the Arab Spring, the migration crisis and the terrorist attacks which shook countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey.
“The world has changed dramatically during this decade, which has intertwined economic crisis, climatic incidents and geopolitical events (…), notes René-Marc Chikli, the president of Seto. Among them, the Arab Spring is the one that had the most impact on the travel profession. »
According to the 2015-2016 ranking established by Seto, the union of tour operators, on the basis of package tour sales, Morocco is currently in 6th place in the Top 10 destinations for the French (154,167 tourists) while it was in second position in the 2006-2007 ranking (559,585). However, it “held up a little better, despite the bomb attack in Marrakech in 2011”.
Elsewhere, the horizon has darkened. The country of Jasmine, which ten years ago welcomed 573,245 French tourists per year, has completely fallen out of the Top 10. The same goes for Turkey (219,908) and Egypt (211,083). “After initially taking advantage of the French’s disenchantment with Maghreb destinations, Turkey conveyed the image of an unstable country (…). Turkey is also associated with the tragedy of the war in Syria from which refugees are streaming. The country, finally, is hit hard by terrorism, particularly targeting very touristy places (…),” analyzes Les Echos.
Source: http://www.yabiladi.com/articles/details/49276/tourisme-maroc-beaucoup-perdu-voyages.html
