Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Moroccan tourist numbers up - again




According to Maghreb Arabe Press, around 2,26 million tourists visited Morocco in the first five months of 2007, that is a 7% rise compared with the same period of last year.

The French topped the list with 873,000 tourists, followed by the Spanish (479,000), British (175,000), Belgians (96,000), Italians (95,000) and Germans (91,000).

According to these figures, tourist nights registered in classified hotels grew by 8 % to reach 7Mn nights.

The Department noted that Marrakech remains a double-digit tourist destination (+ 12%), with more than 56% of additional nights during this period, followed by Casablanca (+9%) and Agadir (+3%). These three cities registered almost 80% of the additional tourist nights. Other cities like Fez, Ouarzazate, Essaouira, Rabat and Tangier also witnessed a substantial increase in terms of tourist nights.

The British, French and German markets contribute with 63% to this increase.

The Department also notes that only the Belgian and Arab markets posted a decline in terms of tourist nights during the same period.

Morocco has worked out an ambitious strategy, dubbed "Vision 2010", which aspires to attract 10 million tourists by 2010. This strategy aims to create 160,000 beds, bringing the national capacity to 230,000 beds and to create some 600,000 new jobs.


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