Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt poised for record tourism year

Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt are on their way to report a record tourism year in terms of revenue and arrivals as they all shed Covid-19 dust buoyed by growing demand from tourist emitting markets on Mediterranean destinations.

Despite the global inflationary context and surge in ticket prices due to the Ukraine-Russia war, Egypt reported 7.7 million arrivals in the first six months this year against 4.9 million tourists the same period last year.

Egypt is expecting some 15 million tourists in total this year although the number of Ukrainian and Russian arrivals plummeted due to the war and sanctions.

In Morocco, arrivals by June stood at a six-month record of 6.5 million tourists, up 21% from a year earlier.

Tourism generated a hard currency inflow of 41 billion dirhams in the first five months in Morocco, that is 42% up compared to 2019 pre-covid levels.

Cash-strapped Tunisia has also reported an improvement in tourism indicators with arrivals reaching 3.2 million in the first five months this year, up 87%.

Arrivals from Algeria and Libya accounted for most bookings in the country, according to Tunisian data.