Morocco: Tourism sector loses $9.5bn in two years

A local horse guide leans on his mount’s saddle while waiting for tourists in the town of Azrou, about 89 kilometres south of Fez in Morocco’s northern Ifrane province in the Atlas mountains, on February 8, 2021 [FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images]

Morocco announced yesterday that it has lost about 90 billion dirhams ($9.54 billion) from tourism revenues over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Craft & Social Economy, Fatima Zahra Ammor said: “The sector of tourism was heavily affected by the COVID-19 crisis, where the number of tourists arriving in the Kingdom fell by 79% in 2021 and 71% in 2020, compared to 2019.”

The kingdom’s airspace is due to reopen on 7 February, almost two months after closures were put in place to restrict the spread of the coronavirus. The closures negatively affected the country’s economy and tourism.

“The government last month adopted an urgent plan to support the tourism sector worth 2 billion dirhams ($214 million), to mitigate the COVID-19 fallout,” Ammor added.

The Moroccan Minister explained that her government had approved five measures including “the extension of compensation disbursement of 200 dirhams ($21.4 per month) during the first quarter of 2022.” The funds are available for the tourism sector including transport organisations.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, Moroccan tourism accounts for 7-10 per cent of Morocco’s domestic product and employs more than half a million people.

Tourism is considered a major source of foreign exchange in the country, along with exports and transfers from workers abroad.

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