News
Monday 6 November 2017

Financial Times Highlights Morocco's Tourism Assets

Vocal synthesis
Financial Times Highlights Morocco's Tourism Assets

Morocco's tourism sector, which employs 2.5 million people and contributes about 7 pc to the national GDP, is booming, said the Financial Times in its special report on Morocco.

As part of efforts to diversify the economy of the Kingdom, which remains dependent on agriculture, the Moroccan government has developed a strategy for the development of the tourism sector (Vision 2020), said the paper in its latest issue.

This strategy is meant to double the size of the sector by 2020, increase revenues to 140 billion dirhams ($ 15 billion) per year by the end of the decade, diversify the tourism product and promote new destinations, noted the paper.

Quoted by the Financial Times, minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicrafts and Social Economy, Mohamed Sajid said that Morocco aims to attract 11 million tourists in 2017, adding that the country could reach 15 or 16 million tourists in the next three or four years.

He underlined that the revival of the tourism sector is bolstered by the support provided by the air transport sector, which made it possible to pool the necessary synergies and open up new markets around the world.

In order to improve Morocco destination, the government has mobilized significant investments for the modernization of airport infrastructure, said the British paper, mentioning the new terminal of Marrakech airport, flagship destination of tourism in Morocco.

The opening of the new terminal at the COP 22 UN climate change conference in Marrakech has boosted its capacity to 9 million passengers, the paper said, citing another new terminal opened at Fez-Saiss airport to meet the growing traffic of domestic and international passengers and support the socio-economic and tourist development of the region.

The new terminal at Fez airport has increased its annual capacity to 2.5 million passengers instead of 500,000, said the Financial Times, noting that the investments made by Morocco to upgrade its infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, TGV ...) have created a solid base for the growth of the tourism industry in Morocco.
MAP: 05/11/2017