Morocco's bed shortage.

Hot on the heels of our good news story about the spectacular growth in Moroccan tourism (Read it here: Moroccan tourism booms ) comes the news that the country may not be ready for the expected influx of tourists. Today,the Tourism Minister, Adil Douiri, told a Reuters' reporter in Paris that he is so concerned by the shortage of hotel beds that he is introducing penalties for foreign developers who fall behind schedule.

Tourism is also seen as a way of keeping unemployment numbers down and the sector is expected to provide some 1.2 million jobs either directly or as spin-offs.

Meanwhile in Fez...

The problem of not having enough hotel beds raises some interesting issues and ironies. For example, small investors in Fez, who have purchased riads or dars in order to provide accommodation for tourists, are finding it increasingly difficult to get accreditation. Rules have changed and instead of seeking to make things easier for foreigners to create venues, pay tax and employ local staff, the rule changes are acting as a disincentive. Hopefully the authorities come to understand this and will seek to make the rules more suitable for a growing and important sector.

If Tourism Minister Adil Douiri is correct when he estimates 10 million tourists a year by 2010, then Morocco is going to need every bed it can create between now and then - including the ones in the small maison d'hotes in Fez.

“We are late in terms of opening of beds and capacity if we want to reach our objective of a global installed capacity of 230,000 beds in 2010,” Douiri told Reuters.

Roughly 10,000 extra beds were being put in place this year but that growth rate had to increase to 15,000-17,000 beds a year, he said.

“I am making a colossal effort, as is the government, to encourage private companies to accelerate the rate of construction of units,” he said.

The number of tourists visiting Morocco was on track to reach a target of 6.4 million in 2006, up from 5.8 million last year, Douiri said.

The country of around 30 million is revamping infrastructure such as motorways and budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair have secured routes to Morocco, which Douiri said should bring 1.2 million people a year in four years’ time.

Several high-profile resorts are springing up across the country, including a golf and ski resort in the High Atlas mountains and a marina, leisure and hotel development in the economic capital, Casablanca.

But Douiri said projects “always take longer than we initially estimate,” which called for tougher measures.

“What we are trying to do is, first, to put delay penalties on investors,” he said, adding that it would be the government’s policy in future to introduce such clauses.

“The last seaside resort we signed at Taghazout, near Agadir, was granted to the American firm Colony Capital. It has very heavy penalties if it changes its mind or its planning. I cannot do more than that,” he said.


Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news