Tourism, a strategic sector of Morocco’s economy, is going through a difficult time due to a « disaffection » of its large French clientele, even if the government wants to be reassuring by invoking in particular a craze in other European markets.
According to the barometer of the Union of Travel Agencies (Snav) published Tuesday, the destination Morocco recorded a drop of 46% over January-May (48% in business volume) compared to the same period of 2014.
One in four tourists is French
In a country where tourism accounts for 10% of national wealth, and where more than one in four foreign vacationers come from France, the figures from French operators are regularly dissected. And, for several months, they have not been good.
As a result of this « growing disaffection« , Morocco is no longer one of the five favorite destinations for French vacationers, commented the Medias 24 information site.
On Wednesday, the French Union of Tour Operating Companies (Seto) in turn reported a dizzying drop (31.1%) in the number of package travelers, over a comparable period.
Security in Morocco: doubt persists
In 2013, Morocco reaffirmed its ambition to double the number of tourists by 2020, after crossing the 10 million visitor mark – for a turnover of nearly 10 billion euros. But last fall, he felt the tide turning.
« Hervé Gourdel in September, Ebola in the fall, the attacks in Paris in January, Copenhagen in February and Tunis in March installed a spirit of mistrust in France », recognized on this occasion the president of the Moroccan Tourist Office in Paris, Hatim el Gharbi.
In a context of diplomatic crisis with France, Rabat initially reacted strongly to the call for « reinforced vigilance » in around forty countries (including Morocco) launched by Paris in the wake of the assassination of hiker Hervé Gourdel in Algeria.
He obtained the removal of this list, while the Minister of Tourism already ensured that he was « taking seriously » an initial drop in reservations on the French market.
Around thirty terrorist cells dismantled
Then, in February, a few weeks before the Bardo attack in Tunis, the government launched an action plan with 10 million euros, with the aim of reaffirming the « stability » of Morocco.
The kingdom, which has not been affected by an attack since that of Jamaa el Fna square in Marrakech in 2011 (17 deaths including 8 French), indeed sees it as an injustice to be affected by the deterioration of the regional security climate.
« Those who know Morocco know that we have nothing to do with what is happening in other countries, » Lahcen Haddad told AFP.
To prove the effectiveness of its anti-terrorism fight, Rabat recently revealed that around thirty cells had been dismantled on its soil since 2013. One of them, which wanted to « liquidate » tourists, was neutralized on June 11.
