Morocco’s Tourism Ministry has set a goal of attracting 26 million tourists by 2030, according to statements made by Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor during the House of Representatives session on Monday evening.
In late July, a total of 3.4 million people chose Morocco as their tourist destination, said the same source, with the Ministry launching e-visa to boost activity and ease travel for incomers.
Ammor also stated her Ministry’s outputs for the first year and recommended a budget for the upcoming year as part of the 2023 Finance Bill draft.
The sub-budget allocated to the Ministry of Tourism, Handicraft, and Social and Solidarity Economy from the general budget for the upcoming year amounted to MAD 1,074,453,000, including MAD 691,707,000 to the tourism sector, and the rest of the budget to the artisanal industry sector and the social and solidarity economy.
With three key measures, the new tourism plan aims to double the number of tourists arriving in Morocco to 26 million by 2030.
The first is to improve air transportation by increasing capacity and doubling flights between destinations.
The other two measures are to match tourism supply to national and international demand, as well as to stimulate public and private investment in the sector, particularly in the key levers such as entertainment, revitalization, and ecotourism.
After the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel activity, the industry has begun to recover.
Morocco was able to achieve a 76% recovery rate for tourists compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019, exceeding the global level of 60%, according to data provided by the Minister.
Ammor described the results as “satisfactory,” noting that these figures were achieved despite that tourism activity did not experience a solid recovery until the last 5 months, following the gradual reopening of the borders.
“The tourism performance during the summer of 2022 was exceptional,” she said, adding that, “the number of tourists at border posts reached 7.7 million from January to September, representing a 175% increase over the same period in 2021.”
The number of overnight stays in classified tourist accommodation establishments reached 13 million during the first nine months of the current year, a 100% increase over the same period last year, with a 70% recovery rate and a 39% filling rate.
Tourism revenues generated MAD 52 billion for the state treasury from January to August 2022, a 155% increase over the same period in 2021, with a 99% recovery rate, according to the same source.
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