With all the doom and gloom surrounding the cancelling of flights by budget airlines Easyjet and Ryanair (see story here), it is good to reflect on some positive news. While short haul budget flights being axed will result in far fewer Spanish, French and British tourists, passengers from long haul flights are on the increase.
While Americans. Canadians, Brazilians and South Africans are visiting Morocco, the biggest increase is in Australians and New Zealanders. Typically they do not use the low-cost airlines but arrive via the airline hubs such as Dubai, which provide direct flights into Casablanca. Morocco is viewed by Antipodeans as being a safe, friendly destination and certainly far more affordable than some European countries.
Australians made a record 8 million overseas trips in the year to June, 80 per cent of them as tourists. In just five years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports, the numbers of trips overseas has swelled by almost 3 million or 57 per cent.
Australians made 1.23 million trips to Europe - mostly to the continent, not Britain - more than a million trips to other Asian destinations and more than half a million trips to other places from India to Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
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| The Aussies are coming |
The reason the that Australians are travelling in record numbers is financial. The high dollar now gives Australians almost double the buying power overseas that they had a decade ago, an annual trip overseas is becoming part of the lifestyle of millions of people who would once have holidayed at home. The economic glow Down Under is tipped to continue for some years.
Although there has been a dip in tourism during Ramadan, the influx of Australians is expected to continue, with increasing numbers in September, October and November.
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1 comment:
All wishful thinking!
Morocco is dealing with a crisis that is threatening its economy.
What is needed in Morocco is deep political reforms. Not the superficial, and mostly pointless, reforms taunted by the regime as earth shattering.
A predatory monarchy, along with its elite, known as Makhzen, is interfering with the deep reforms that could push the Moroccan economy forward.
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