According to data from the Ministry of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, tourism revenue amounted to 9.7 billion DH at the end of March 2022, an increase of 80% compared to the same period of the year elapsed.
The Minister of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, indicated that this development confirms a recovery in the sector. Responding to an oral question in the House of Representatives on “the measures taken in favor of the tourism sector”, she underlined that handicraft exports showed an increase of 25% during the same period.
Fatim-Zahra Ammor also highlighted the various measures taken to revive the tourism sector, including the launch of an emergency plan of 2 billion DH, the payment of lump sum compensation of 2,000 DH, before Aid Al Fitr, for all employees in the sector, tourist transporters and classified restaurants and the postponement of the repayment of bank loan due dates for tourist companies. “The ministry has received 781 requests for renovation of hotel establishments, which will be processed in the coming days. And there was the deployment of a major advertising and marketing campaign to relaunch the sector, with the aim of doubling the number of arrivals by 2030,” she noted.
As for the craft sector, the minister noted that the ministry is carrying out structuring work, through the strengthening of the legal and regulatory framework relating to craft activities and medical coverage, and the establishment of the platform of the national craft register which organizes 172 trades, noting, in this sense, that 96,000 professionals are registered there. In response to another question relating to tourism investment, Fatim-Zahra Ammor indicated that her department reoriented the interventions of the Moroccan Society of Tourist Engineering (SMIT) towards tourism investments that more meet the requirements of tourists, by exploiting a study carried out by the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) on the expectations of Moroccan and foreign tourists.
Among the important programs aimed at encouraging investment, the minister cited incentive subsidies for the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector and financial support from the State, with a total envelope of 1 billion DH, for the renovation of tourist accommodation establishments. She also indicated that the new investment charter, the broad outlines of which were presented to HM King Mohammed VI, will enable a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery. The minister also added that the occupancy rate of classified hotel establishments was only 50% before the Covid-19 crisis, noting that in order to increase this rate, the ministry set up communication campaigns in partnership with airlines and international travel agencies.
source: challenge.ma
