Moroccan Tourism Adopts Emergency Plan

Misapprehension about the security situation in North Africa is causing headaches for Moroccan tourism

Morocco - Safe and welcoming

Morocco’s tourism sector is undergoing a crisis propelled by decreasing tourist arrivals amid a tense regional context marked by the spread of confusions in several European tourist markets on the security situation in North Africa.

Few tourists seem to appreciate that Morocco is probably one of the safest countries to visit, even more so than many European capitals.

To boost the Kingdom’s attractiveness to foreign tourists, Morocco’s tourism promotion office (ONMT) has adopted an emergency plan providing for a set of measures ranging from opening new air routes, launching promotional campaigns to showcasing Morocco’s attractions and using the Climate COP22 Summit to attract more tourists.

The measures were adopted during a closed-door meeting between the ONMT and professionals of the tourism sector in Morocco who took stock of the current unprecedented crisis that is worsened by the spread of amalgams in Europe in a context marked by soaring regional instability.

In this regard, the measures provide for launching new air routes to attract tourists from alternative markets such as the Arab world after the sharp drop registered in arrivals from Western Europe.

Besides, it was also agreed to add more flights for the 2016/2017 autumn season to boost tourist arrivals from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The new air routes will reinvigorate the tourism sector in the destinations of Agadir, Marrakech, Oujda, Fez, Tangier and Rabat.

In this respect, the ONMT, which already has partnerships with Morocco’s flag carrier RAM and Air Arabia, is considering agreements with other airlines such as JetairFly, Transavia, Ryanair, Easyjet, Norwegian & Vueling. The ONMT also plans to schedule flights linking the two tourism hubs of Agadir and Marrakech to the Czech republic, Hungary, Finland and Norway.

The organisation of the climate summit, COP22, is also an opportunity to highlight Morocco’s tourism attractions through a promotional campaign that showcases Morocco’s tourism infrastructure and stability.

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