Morocco Woos The Finns

It has been rare to meet Finns in the Fez Medina - but that is set to change. At last weeks travel exhibition in Helsinki, the Moroccan pavilion was a hit and Finnish tourists are set to increase in numbers.

Organised annually in January at Messukeskus Helsinki in Finland, the Matka Nordic Travel Fair is the largest travel industry event in Northern Europe. Every year, the fair features 1,000 tour operators, destinations, and tourism service companies from more than 80 countries. In addition to that, more than 50,000 consumers and 20,000 travel industry professionals visit the event.

For the first two days the fair is open only for travel trade professionals to conduct business in various forums. After these two intensive days, the fair opens its doors for the general public to enjoy the international travel atmosphere.

Morocco took part in the 2019 edition of the Matka Nordic Travel Fair as part of intensive efforts targeting Europe's tourism markets and aiming to conquer the Scandinavian market.

Arranged by the Moroccan National Office of Tourism (ONMT), on an area of ​​50 m2, the Moroccan pavilion was designed to inform visitors of the richness and diversity of the tourism of the Kingdom. It offers publications and brochures, both in English and Finnish, to promote many national tourist destinations.

This year, Moroccan participation is marked by the presence of airlines such as Royal Air Maroc and Air Arabia Morocco, in addition to travel agencies Atlas Tours (Agadir), Time Travel (Agadir), Morocco 4 Golf (Marrakech) and Sahara Experience (Marrakesh), in addition to the Finnish GolfTailors agency that participates in this show to promote products of Moroccan craftsmanship.

During the inaugural day of this show and in the presence of Morocco's ambassador to Finland, Mohamed Ariad, the Moroccan exhibition hosted a series of meetings between officials of the ONMT and representatives of the Finnish media.

For the first time in 2018, a direct line between Helsinki and Agadir was set up for a weekly trip operated by the Norwegian airline, in addition to the line already launched last year between Helsinki and Marrakech, because of two weekly flights operated by the same company.

According to the latest data, the number of tourists from the Scandinavian and Baltic countries visiting Morocco was close to 119,000 visitors in 2017.

For 2018, the number of tourists having visited Morocco reached 96,000 visitors at the end of October, showing an increase of 27% compared to the previous year.

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