Marruecos, uno de los cinco lugares favoritos para los turistas franceses
Tourism in Morocco seems to be starting to recover after the halt caused by the closure of borders that led the country to spend several months without being able to feed the tourism and hospitality sector. At the beginning of 2022 with the reestablishment of international travel, the Kingdom sneaks into a list as one of the top five destinations for the French to medium-distance places. According to the Syndicat des Entreprises du Tour-Operating (SETO) report, the beginning of the year was marked by a "very strong recovery".
Morocco enters a ranking in which Spain and Greece remain among the favourites of French tourism. In these two nations, the French continue to choose the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, while in Greece they continue to opt for Crete and Rhodes. Tunisia is also part of this ranking, while the Mauritius Islands are in second place after claiming to have recovered from the ravages of the coronavirus with the sale of almost 26,000 package tours. This is followed by the French West Indies, which is also back to pre-pandemic figures with just over 22,000 packages sold.
SETO stresses that during the period from 1 November 2021 to 28 February, a total of 1.9 million French travellers visited the North African nation. The data for the first few months is very low compared to 2019, where the figure is down 3%. But with the beginning of the year the data started to be increasingly hopeful for a sector that was experiencing its worst data after those recorded in 2020, a year marked by the start of COVID-19.
But despite the fact that the first data pointed to a recovery of the sector, the Ukrainian conflict is once again affecting tourism. Since 25 February, the day on which the outbreak of the war began, the trend of tourists visiting the Kingdom has started to decline again considerably.
SETO points out that the Ukrainian conflict is once again slowing down the data, which is becoming more and more equal to the levels of activity that occurred during the first year of the health crisis. The portal says that this new conflict is once again harming tourists who are increasingly fearful of any problems that may arise. "It causes anxiety with a clientele with a real desire to travel," says the French union.
France has always been a good source of tourists travelling to the Kingdom because of the good relations between the two nations at all levels. With the opening of the borders, flight and hotel bookings in the North African nation soared by French tourists. Nicolas Henin, director of the airline Transavia confirmed the trend: "Since the announcement, we have counted between 4,000 and 5,000 bookings. In January, there were only 400 to 500".
For Morocco, France accounts for almost 30% of the flow of tourists who visit the region every year. For the French, Marrakech is the favourite holiday destination, followed by Agadir, Casablanca and Essaouira. Since the resumption of air traffic, Transavia, for example, has been offering two flights a week to Marrakech for its customers, and this will increase to four flights a week in the summer due to high holiday demand.
The Moroccan government has already taken action to start reviving tourism in the area with a national emergency plan. One billion dirhams have been earmarked for a compensation allowance for workers and employees in the tourism and hospitality sector, and other aid to defer expenses incurred by businesses during the months of inactivity, which have resulted in considerable losses of money. In addition, there is also a one-year extension for hoteliers and transporters not to pay taxes and the state's duty to assume the costs of the business tax, as well as subsidies for the hotel and catering industry.
