The easing of restrictions has led to an increase in the number of tourists during the first quarter of the year of more than 216%

Marruecos consolida la recuperación de la actividad turística

photo_camera PHOTO/FILE - Tourism in Morocco

Tourism in Morocco is back. Following the reactivation of the sector and the easing of restrictions on entering the country, the first effects and benefits are already being felt. These give a glimpse of a clear recovery of this industry, which was eagerly awaiting the return to normality and which is putting an end to an agonising period of little activity.

The latest figures have shown an increase in revenues in the first quarter of this year. The government has revealed that, between January and April, there has been a considerable increase in the number of tourists entering the Kingdom. According to official data, arrivals to the country have increased by 216% year-on-year due to the resumption of air travel and the relaxation of anti-COVID-19 measures.

"The number of foreign visitors reached around 1.5 million people between January and April 2022," said Fatima Zahra Ammor, the Maghreb kingdom's Tourism Minister. She announced the good news during a plenary session in Parliament. 

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Thanks to this massive influx of tourists, the sector has been able to start recovering after more than two years of stagnation and no revenue. The number of arrivals has caused tourism foreign exchange earnings to rise to 14.62 billion dirhams, compared to last year. "This is a year-on-year growth of 123% during the first four months of 2022," the Tourism Minister continued.

The Moroccan government has already predicted that the sector will close this year with very good figures. The government expects more than 4.5 million people to visit the region by the end of the year. Hotel and flight bookings indicate that the tourist season will be full of positive consequences that will bring revenue to the national economy.

This first quarter has been welcomed with open hands and good long-term economic data is already expected. The Ministry of Economy and Finance stressed that revenues in this period rose by almost 80%, compared to data from 2021. The Ministry assures that the figures promise a positive economic outlook for the end of the year.

Tourism in Morocco, as in other nations around the world, has been one of the sectors most devastated by the current coronavirus health crisis. The situation with the virus is now being managed differently thanks to the vaccines, and the mood has shifted towards a return to normality. 

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Despite this, the sector was unable to cope and was severely affected. The government has had to support the industry in order to get it back on its feet and to ensure that the workers were not affected despite the work stoppage through numerous economic benefits to mitigate the effects of the situation. In the face of this, employees in the sector have responded negatively to government support, pointing out that efforts have been minimal and there is still a long way to go before there is complete normality.

This is because since almost the end of 2021 and the first months of 2022, both air and sea borders were closed in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. At that time, the Omicron variant, which proved to be highly contagious and rapidly transmissible, prevailed. For this reason, the government granted more than 2 billion dirhams to employees in the tourism and hotel sector in the form of a monthly allowance. It also sent the sum of 1 billion dirhams to the owners of hotels and tourist resorts, along with a one-year exemption from bank payments.

It is estimated that the Kingdom has lost more than 90 billion dirhams due to a lack of tourism over the past two years. In normal years, Morocco would have received more than thirteen million tourists annually, but in 2021 alone the country was visited by 3.7 million people. The figures have had a serious impact on national GDP, as tourism accounts for 10% or much more of GDP. In 2021, it accounted for only 7%, reflecting a clear blow to this vital sector of the national economy.

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