Morocco’s tourist arrivals drop 78% in first nine months this year

Morocco’s tourism is counting the losses due to the coronavirus pandemic with the number of tourist arrivals plummeting by 78% to 2.2 million in the first nine months of this year.

Tourism receipts, key to Morocco’s foreign exchange reserves, shrank 60% to 24.3 billion dirhams, the tourism minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui told MPs.

The summer peak season, in particular, was marred by a 98% drop in foreign tourists and 56% in residents.

The Minister said that 35% of tourism workers lost their jobs as turnover at 400 surveyed tourism companies dropped 80%.

Morocco has kept its airspace closed except for some exceptional flights. Tourists are allowed in from the exceptional destinations provided they have a hotel reservation.

On November 4, Morocco registered a daily record of infections of 5745 new cases bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 235,310. A record number of deaths was also recorded the same day at 82.