Moroccan Islamists reassure tourism industry

Politicians from Morocco’s newly elected Islamist party are working to balance religious concerns with the need for economic growth.

By Hassan Benmehdi for Magharebia in Casablanca – 21/12/11

[Hassan Benmhedi] Morocco’s newly elected Islamist party says the tourism industry has nothing to fear from their policies.

The rise to power of Morocco’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) has some in the tourism sector worried about their financial future.

In Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakech, cities well-known for their spirited nightlife, dynamic tourist trade and the availability of a wide range of leisure activities, the PJD secured more than half of all seats in the early legislative elections in November.

In the economic capital, the party took 17 of the 34 seats available. The PJD managed the same success in Tangier, the city where the party had organised sit-ins on several occasions to protest against the city’s casino. The “Lamp Party” has come out on top in this northern city, taking three seats of the five available. And in Marrakech, Morocco’s main tourist destination, the PJD came away with five seats of the nine up for grabs.

According to the High Commission for Planning (HCP), tourism in Morocco accounts for 7.3% of GDP. It is one of the top five sectors creating jobs in the country, which topped the list of most popular foreign destinations for French tourists in 2011, taking the lead from Tunisia, according to the most recent annual indicator of activity from the French Association of Tour Operators (CETO).

Abdellatif Kabbaj, managing director of the Kenzi Hotels Group, told Magharebia that the main thing now is not just to promote what Morocco can offer tourists, but chiefly to promote the PJD.

“Promoting the PJD’s image of moderate Islamism is a key task and a real challenge,” Kabbaj said. “State and private bodies working in the sector really need to focus on that if they want to keep customers coming to our country.”

At a meeting early this month in Marrakech involving hoteliers and the five new Islamist MPs representing the Ochre City, the politicians were keen to reassure those working in the industry, and promised they would constantly be listening to what the professionals had to say.

Driss, who owns Riad-Restaurant, said he was reassured at the end of the meeting with the PJD representatives in Marrakech. “They listened carefully and showed they were fully prepared to work hand in hand in the interests of the city and its people, and particularly those looking for work.”

PJD parliamentarian Younes Benslimane told reporters outside the meeting that sectors that feel vulnerable have nothing to fear from his party.

“Quite the contrary, professionals will find they have contact people, programmes and a whole range of facilities to remove the obstacles to investment and create jobs for the city’s young people,” Benslimane said.

Abdelilah Benkirane, the new head of the government, said the PJD is there to stamp out political malpractice, as well as to provide answers to socioeconomic problems and social injustice. “Stop listening to scaremongers. Have no fear, you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” the new prime minister said.

Azzeddine Belkhair, a young political science graduate in Casablanca, however, argued that the party would have a hard time balancing between religious and modernist discourses.

“The party is not cut off from everyone else; today it’s caught between a rock and a hard place. It has to project the image of a moderate Islamist party, but it must remain true to its Islamic values,” Belkhair said. “Whether it is dealing with tourism, art, women’s issues or other matters, it will be difficult for this Islamist party to strike the right balance, and it will be forced to reassure people to the detriment of its own Islamic values.”