Morocco, a promising tourist destination with a remarkable growing number of international and domestic visitors each year, continues to record considerable tourist development over the coming decades.
As a vector of deep-running changes more often than not irreversible, much more than other
activities, tourism begs the general question of Morocco’s ability to control development, provide
long-term protection for its environment and promote a balanced national planning.
The Moroccan experience indeed shows that controlling tourist development is especially hard
in a very attractive region with considerable geographic constraints. It also shows a wide variety of
situations with 3 general kinds of areas:
- Morocco is already “a mature” destination that can report on its positive experiences,
- A destination in full growth that must endeavour not to repeat the problems encountered elsewhere,
- coastal or inland areas with real developmental possibilities.
Vision 2020 aims not only at the number of tourist arrival but also on quality as well. The country now positioned its tourist market in the middle to upscale market. Some luxury hotel brands set to launch in Morocco include Baglioni, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, Raffles and Six Senses. Another luxury hotel brand, Sofitel is already operating 6 hotels in the country.
For private investment in tourism, the government has planned a detailed contract between the government and the private sector. Its main message of Vision 2020 to the investors is “come to earn money with us”. It wants to tell investors that the country is developing and there are new markets and new businesses. So if an investor is interested in having an airline company between Morocco and other countries, the government will dedicate a marketing budget for this investor. Or if an investor wants to build a new hotel, the government will find the right trained people, the right land and will be supported by the government in general and by a marketing budget. The National Tourism Development Agency of Morocco is focused on tourism investment. It works as a one-stop service center for tourism investors. If investors come to the Department, it will facilitate for them all of their business.
For infrastructural development, the government has planned a 20 billion dirhams high-speed rail project by the end of 2015. The project would cut the travel time between Casablanca and Tangier, the two prominent tourist cities in the country.
A new aspect of Vision 2020 is that there will be specific programs for animation, entertainment, infrastructure, ecological and eco-resources development. There will also be some niche products like business tourism and health tourism.
For the targeted tourist market, besides consolidating the traditional European markets which has been the focus of Moroccan tourism, it is now looking to other countries to further develop its tourism industry, for example, China, Russia, Eastern Europe, North America and the Middle East. China is the focus in its potential Asian market. The Moroccan National Tourism Office had already set up offices in Beijing and launched promotion plan aiming at Chinese tourists. The Tourism Office believed that joint efforts from airline companies on both sides would make direct flights between China and the country possible.
Furthermore, the government is investing around 4 billion dollars in the next 10 years to make the country more attractive through marketing, improving the environment, training people, initiating structural reforms, initiating new seaside resorts and initiating new land for development hotels.
Morocco has maintained its offensive actions in emerging markets and continued to have a strong presence in traditional markets, and within the framework of the strategic pillars of the Vision 2020, driven by the King Mohammed’s strategic vision to promote Morocco as the first international tourist destination.
Thus, the tourism industry for the month of May 2013 witnessed an increase in tourist arrivals of around 9%, and a total increase of overnight stays in hotels nationwide. In addition, tourism receipts during the month of May reached 17%. The first five months of this year tourism has registered an increase of 3%, driven primarily by higher volume of foreign tourists arrivals.
The German, Italian and American tourists arrival in Morocco evolved from 7 to 11%. Russian and Czech markets continued their strong growth reaching respectively 63% and + 106% increases, while the number of French and Spanish tourist remain stable at the end of May 2013.
Total nights spent during the first five months of the year registred an increase of 10% compared to the same period in 2012 (12% for non-resident tourists and 6 % for residents). Thus, the increase in overnight stays concerned the majority of tourist destinations in Morocco: Casablanca (6%), Tangier (4%), Fez (+ 18%) and Essaouira-Mogador (30%). The two major tourist destinations Marrakech and Agadir continue to accumulate alone almost 60% of total overnight stays, with a change of 11% to 12% for Marrakech and Agadir.
Tourism in Morocco is therefore of capital importance in its present and future impact on society, economy and the country’s environment. Its way of developing must absolutely evolve to better take environmental, social and economic aspects into consideration.
