Morocco’s Tourist Arrivals Jump 9% in First Half of 2017

Tourist arrivals in Morocco in the first half of 2017 have grown 9% compared to the same period last year to stand at 4.6 million tourists, the tourism ministry said.

International tourist arrivals increased 14% while Moroccans living abroad visiting their homeland rose by 3%, the ministry said in its latest statistics covering the January-June 2017 period.

Arrivals from Germany grew 12%, while the numbers of Dutch, Spanish and French tourists grew 8%, 7% and 5% respectively, the ministry added.

The increase was also driven by the surge in the emerging tourist markets, especially China and Japan. Chinese arrivals jumped exponentially by 565%, while Japanese and Brazilian visitors rose by 46%

Morocco expects tourists’ arrivals to increase by 6% in 2017 after 10.3 million tourists visited the country in 2016, up 1.5% from 2015.