Morocco - tourist numbers up 11%

Some 2.5 million tourists visited Morocco during the first five months of 2008, which represents an 11% increase compared to the same period in 2007, according to the latest figures of the National Tourism Observatory.

French tourists topped the list with 927,000, followed by Spaniards (587,000), Britons (141,000), Italians (116,000), Belgians (113,000), Germans (97,000) and the Dutch (75,000).

Despite a rise in tourist arrivals, overnight stays in rated hotels fell by 4%, standing at 6.7 million. The drop is ascribed to the uneven performance of the different tourist destinations of the kingdom.

One statistic that the figures released do not show is the upsurge in interest in Morocco being shown by Americans. A couple of years ago the figures on The View from Fez revealed a lot of UK visitors. That has now slowed down (possibly because of the damage done by lack of direct flights to Fez) and been replaced by a large upsurge in interest from America. As the chart above shows, 24% of our visitors are Americans. This has been a consistent figure for several months now and it will be interesting to see if it translates into more actual tourists.

After Suzanna Clarke's bestseller, A House in Fez, was released in Australia and New Zealand, guest house owners recorded an increase of visitors from those countries. We will be keeping an eye on the American visitor numbers after the book is released in the USA in November.

Morocco seeks to attract 10 million tourists by 2010. To this end, it has elaborated an ambitious strategy dubbed "Vision 2010". According to official figures, a total of 7.4 million tourists visited the country in 2007, with overnight stays exceeding 17 million.

Suzanna Clarke's , A House in Fez,

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news