Car rental professionals in Morocco have gathered this Thursday, February 3, at the Ministry of Economy and Finance headquarters in Rabat to protest their exclusion from the government’s tourism aid list.
Many professional groups gathered in front of the ministry, raising slogans demanding “fairness,” before authorities broke up the gathering and stressed the need to evacuate the premises.
The protesters appealed to the government, particularly the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to open discussions with their unions after the ministry excluded them from the MAD 2 billion sectoral aid.
Initially, the Ministry of Transport and Logistics had integrated car rental professionals in the category of sub-sectors that should benefit from the aid allocated to the tourism sector, but when the final list was announced, the professionals were shocked at their exclusion.
The protestors complained about the absence of government intervention and aid, and the accumulation of debts, which are vital to their operations, as initial investments to open a car rental service are too high to amass without the financial institutions’ assistance.
Over 3,000 car rental companies in Morocco have declared bankruptcy since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in early 2020, while many vehicles have been seized by banks and hundreds of workers have been laid off.
Fouad El Melyani, Secretary-General of the National Union of Owners of Car Rental Agencies, told Hespress AR that the protest came “as a rejection of the exclusion from the support of the Ministry of Tourism, and a request to postpone loan payments for an additional year, as well as exemption from taxes,” considering the dire current context.
Apart from a two-year halt in international tourism caused by the health crisis, the recent two-month border closure has also hurt the already insolvent car rental industry.
El Melyani added that the professionals initiated a dialogue with the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, and “some good results were obtained,” but that the solution to their inclusion now falls within the Ministry of Finance’s jurisdiction.
The professionals maintain that their service “is perfectly part of the tourism sector,” as most of their clients are foreign tourists, travel agencies, and hotels hosting international tourists.
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