Tourism
From The Report: Morocco 2015
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Despite grappling with the challenges of political instability in North Africa and the impact of the eurozone crisis in Europe, Morocco continues to pursue the objective identified in its national tourism development plan, Vision 2020, of becoming a top-20 tourism destination by 2020. The sector already contributes 12% of GDP, supports around 505,000 direct jobs and is an important foreign exchange earner, generating up to €6.2bn in 2014. Alongside efforts to expand Morocco’s air links and attract more visitors from abroad, however, the government has also targeted increases in the number of domestic tourists through marketing campaigns and building hospitality infrastructure that caters to the needs of local holidaymakers.

This chapter contains interviews with Imad Barrakad, President, Société Marocaine d’Ingénierie Touristique; and Abdelatif Kabbaj, President, National Confederation of Tourism.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Morocco has ambitious goals to increase tourist arrivals
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Recent years have seen Morocco grapple with multiple difficulties, from the eurozone crisis in Europe to regional instability in the wake of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. The country was also preparing to host the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2015, but lost its host status following the Ebola outbreak. Though it lodged a request to postpone the tournament, the Confederation of African Football declined this and named Equatorial Guinea as the new host. Yet amid such challenging…

Analysis

Morocco uses targeted promotion to increase domestic tourism
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A key component of Vision 2020, the national tourism strategy that aims to attract 20m visitors by the end of the decade, domestic tourists are now seen as one of Morocco’s most reliable source markets in the face of volatile foreign arrivals and uncertainty associated with current regional instability. One testament to this is the Ministry of Tourism’s latest figures, which show Moroccan tourists spent 5.3m nights in the country’s classified accommodations in 2014, up from 2.27m in 2000. This…

Analysis

Morocco sets up fund to support investment in tourism projects
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Under its national tourism development plan, Vision 2020, Morocco has set itself the ambitious goal of raising bed capacity in the hospitality sector to 375,000 beds by the end of the decade. As of 2014, classified hotel bed capacity stood at 216,386, up from 176,630 in 2010 and 95,180 in 2000, with Marrakech having the largest portion (30%), followed by Agadir (16%) and Casablanca (8%). Despite this progress, however, whether Morocco will be able to achieve its target by the deadline is debatable,…

Interview

Imad Barrakad, President, Société Marocaine d’Ingénierie Touristique: Interview
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Interview:Imad Barrakad In terms of infrastructure, what do you see as the priority investments for the tourism sector? IMAD BARRAKAD: In order to be among the top-20 tourism destinations worldwide, Morocco has developed the Vision 2020 strategy, which focuses on two main axes: investment and product development. In the next 10 years, the kingdom wants to progressively develop six new destinations to further enhance growth in the two established international hubs, Marrakech and Agadir.…

Interview

Abdelatif Kabbaj, President, National Confederation of Tourism: Interview
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Interview:Abdelatif Kabbaj What are the challenges that need to be faced if the country is to achieve the objectives of the Vision 2020 strategy for tourism development? ABDELATIF KABBAJ: Vision 2020 plans to place Morocco among the top 20 destinations in the world. We have the assets and the potential to achieve this, but we will first need to address some constraining factors. We must develop our offering, as cultural tourism currently accounts for most of the sector’s activities. We…