Moroccan Tourism Bounces Back

After a sluggish start to the year, tourist arrivals in Morocco increased by 15% in July. The source countries show a positive effect of promotions, particularly in the German speaking countries. Morocco hosted 79.9% more tourists from Austria, 19.8% from Germany, 6.2% from the UK and 10.5% from North America

More Germans and Austrians visiting Fez now the weather has cooled down

The catch up has been welcomed by tourism professionals some of whom had expected the beginning of year slowdown to continue.

According to a statement from the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism, six million tourists visited Morocco during the first seven months of this year.

The same upward trend was observed for overnight stays. In classified tourist facilities, they increased by 12% compared to July 2014. This increase in overnight stays has particularly boosted the major tourist destinations in the kingdom such as Casablanca and Marrakech.

The cultural capital, Fez, has experienced a slightly slower recovery, but with the cooler weather and accommodation bookings picking up in September and October, tourism professional are upbeat about the coming months. Ironically, visitors report that they are delighted to be experiencing the delights of Fez without hordes of tourists.

Major German magazine Geo Saison recently featured Fez

Foreign exchange tourism revenues have also recorded an increase of 16% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching more than 5.975 billion dirhams.

Observers believe that the tourism sector in Morocco suffers from two negative factors - the ailing European economy and regional unstable security situation following the terrorist attacks on Tunisia.

According to the Tourism Ministry the recovery recorded last month was due to the promotion policy, communication and tourist packages adopted by Morocco, and the diversification of tourist markets adopted by the tourism administration. Tourism professionals are quick to acknowledge that the Ministry of Tourism is working well for the industry.

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