Tourism: Morocco is doing well despite a difficult economic situation, indicates the Oxford Business Group
Despite a difficult regional situation, the tourism sector in Morocco recorded good results at the start of 2017, indicated the Oxford Business Group, recalling that the Kingdom welcomed some 3 million tourists during the first four months of the current year, an increase of 10 pc compared to the same period of 2016.
These good results concern almost all segments, specifies the British research firm, stressing that they come in a difficult regional situation marked by unrest affecting the MENA region.
Quoted by the Oxford Business Group, the Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Crafts and the Social Economy Mohamed Sajid indicated that the sector should experience growth of 5.5 pc year-on-year in 2017 (10.9 million tourists). Revenues, for their part, should reach 5.8 billion euros compared to 5.7 billion in 2016.
According to the study published by the OBG, the abolition of visas for Chinese nationals allowed Morocco to take advantage of this market and support its tourism sector.
Thus, Morocco’s tourism industry has begun to reap the benefits of efforts made to conquer new strategic markets, helping the country to boost the number of visitors and thereby influence the regional trend, underline OBG analysts who forecast the arrival of 100,000 Chinese tourists in Morocco in 2017 compared to 42,000 in 2016.
To achieve the expected objectives, the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) has sealed partnerships with three strategic international airlines (Etihad Airways, Turkish Airlines and Air France) with a view to increasing the number of regular flights connecting Chinese cities to the most popular Moroccan tourist destinations, specifies the analysis.
As part of another ONMT initiative, a Chinese delegation visited Morocco in June to assess the country’s tourism potential. Representatives of travel agencies based in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as media, visited several Moroccan cities, including Marrakech, Tangier, Casablanca, Rabat and Fez.
According to the OBG, the stability of the country, reinforced by incentive measures and the modernization of infrastructure, have enabled the creation of a climate conducive to investment, with the launch of a series of new hotel projects.
source: h24info.ma
