Tourism

Morocco’s tourism sector has undergone a major shift in recent years in large measure due to the implementation of the Moroccan National Tourism Office’s (ONMT) Vision 2020 programme, which seeks to attract 20m tourists by 2020. The programme also aims at raising the country’s “sun and surf” profile, boosting annual revenues to Dh140bn (€12.43bn), increasing hotel bed capacity to 375,000 and creating 9500 new jobs in the industry, all by 2020. While the economic crisis in Europe and the fallout from the Arab Spring elsewhere in North Africa have continued to impact the tourism industry in Morocco, the sector has nevertheless seen moderate expansion in activity. With 10m tourists visiting Morocco in 2013, the tourism sector is a leading contributor to the kingdom’s GDP, at around 7%. The ONMT predicts that Morocco will receive 10.7m tourists in 2014 and 12m in 2016. Tourist expenditure and nights spent at hotels, however, have decreased. Taken together, these factors have put pressure on profits and prices have been reduced in an effort to boost volumes. Efforts by both the public and private sectors mean that the industry’s long-term outlook remains robust, although things may be more volatile in the medium term. This chapter contains an interview with Lahcen Haddad, Minister of Tourism.