Despite earthquake, Morocco’s tourism industry shows resilience on path to new record

Morocco is on course to break its tourist arrivals record with 11.5 million people visiting the country up to September this year, a figure that exceeds total arrivals in 2022, the tourism ministry said.

“Timing couldn’t be more perfect to announce record September arrivals than during the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF in Marrakesh,” Morocco’s tourism minister Fatima Zahra Ammor said.

She said Morocco is poised to attract 14 million visitors by December, breaking the pre-covid 2019 record of 13 million tourists.

Tourism professionals in Marrakech had at first voiced fear the earthquake could trigger a wave of cancellations. But that didn’t happen as the vast majority of hotels in Marrakech were fully booked on the occasion of the visit by some 12,000 people for the IMf-World Bank annual meetings.

Morocco’s tourism promotion plan aims to attract 17.5 million tourists by 2026 generating revenue of $12 billion and 80,000 direct jobs and 120,000 indirect.