Morocco: a time for taking stock of tourism

December is the month for balance sheets, projections and resolutions. This year, the future is one of the most uncertain. We are groping ahead, and the virus, which is constantly mutating and spreading, has not said its last word. For Morocco, the lessons of this health crisis must be learned.  ç

A tourist country par excellence, the Cherifian kingdom has been heavily penalised by containment policies. Last November, the Minister of Tourism, Nadia Fettah, stated that income from tourism had fallen by 63%.  

However, 2019 had been a record year in terms of tourism: 78.6 billion dirhams (7.41 billion euros), compared to 73.04 billion dirhams (6.89 billion euros) the previous year, and all the indicators predicted a year 2020 in line with this upward trend. But the tourists were not there.  

Hoteliers and other industry players had kept up a glimmer of hope for the end-of-year celebrations, but once again this did not happen!  

A week before the celebrations, the Ministry of the Interior announced new restrictions, such as the closure of restaurants, a national curfew and a ban on celebrating New Year's Eve in hotels.

This was a great disappointment for the already fragile profession and for the restaurant owners, who had only 48 hours to dispose of all their food and other perishable products.  

At the same time, the national airline Royale Air Maroc announced the resumption of domestic flights that had been suspended for several months, strengthened its air connections, in particular with Dakhla, Marrakech and Agadir, and launched 15 new routes to France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom. 

Following the gradual resumption of activity at Moroccan airports, there are now 78 weekly flights by 20 airlines, but the airports are empty and travel permits between cities are subject to new conditions. Local tourism is at half-mast and many establishments have closed.  

In Casablanca it's not uncommon to see restaurants converted to pharmacies or other more profitable shops. Openings and closures have reached their limits, and after four months of severe confinement and the return of new restrictions, the more fragile businesses have not recovered. Small artisans also closed their shops.

In a final shake-up, tourism actors tried to revive the profession: "Redémarrer, Relancer et Réinventer" ("Restart, Re-launch and Reinvent") became their slogan, but for several months the machinery has been struggling to get back on track.  "We have to know how to live with the virus while respecting preventive measures", the representatives of tourism in Marrakech have never stopped fighting but the battle has not yet been won.  

For more than a week now, Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier and Agadir have been living under a curfew and their restaurants are closed. The strategy of attracting nationals has not borne fruit either. Travel has been subjected to new restrictions. Nationals account for 35-40% of tourism revenue in Marrakesh. The ochre city, like Casablanca, is located in the red light district, which is very detrimental to it.

In its July report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development indicates that out of a list of 15 countries, the Moroccan tourism industry is the seventh most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The deficit is estimated at between 6 and 11 billion dollars, "in the worst case scenario", it was said, and the worst is about to be confirmed.  

The profession also regrets a 50% job loss. It should be remembered that tourism contributes up to 7% of Morocco's GDP and the 2021 season is already in danger, warns the Tourism Federation.  

For the end-of-year celebrations, some European tourists (mostly French) came to enjoy the Kingdom's sunshine, especially in the southern areas. "We received very few tourists in our establishment, but some French people still came to spend the end of year celebrations with us," says a hotelier from M'hamid El Ghizlane who prefers to remain anonymous. Because for the moment, he has no intention of declaring to customers, "Our structure will not survive the taxes! "he concludes.