Morocco to reopen airports to international passenger traffic on Feb 7

Morocco will reopen its airports to international passenger flights on February 7, after it has kept borders shut since Nov 29 to ward off a surge in Omicron infections, the government said.

The flight resumption comes after a drop in Covid-19 infections which hit a peak last week with daily cases averaging 8500.

The decision will give a sigh of relief to business in the tourism sector, which has been worst hit by the Covid-19 restrictive measures.

Prior to the pandemic, Morocco attracted 13 million tourists with hard currency revenues at 78 billion dirhams ($8 billion), while in 2020 and 2021 just a little over 2 million tourists visited the country.

Tourism receipts this year stand at $3 billion as many tourism business had to shut down temporarily or for good waiting for better times.

The government has unlocked $200 million in aid, half of which is dedicated to help hotels renovate and maintain infrastructure, while the rest will be spent as aid to workers in the sector.

This package includes 2000 dirham monthly payments to workers in the hotel industry up to March this year.