Morocco to offer state guaranteed loans to upgrade hotels

Morocco plans to upgrade 25,000 rooms through state-guaranteed loans before 2025, when the country will host the African cup of nations and ahead of the 2030 World Cup, the tourism ministry said.

Hotels wishing to apply could receive up to 100 million dirhams ($10 million) in loans, whose interests will be paid by the state, the ministry said in a statement.

The program dubbed, Cap Hospitality, is backed by the Mohammed VI Investment fund and is expected to generate investments worth 4 billion dirhams, it said.

Morocco’s tourism sector is poised to outperform last year’s record with the arrival of 6 million tourists in the five months this year, tourism minister Fatima Ezzahra Ammour said earlier this month.

The number of arrivals was 770,000 higher compared to the same period last year, as Morocco continues to attract international hotel brands to invest in the country, the minister told members of the Upper House.

In 2023, 135 international hotels opened branches in Morocco, bolstering the country’s offer, she said.

The minister, who is also in charge of handicrafts, noted that Moroccan craftsmen shed Covid-19 dust as the sector registered 11 billion dirhams in exports last year.

Tourism continues to represent 7% of Morocco’s GDP and employs 2.5 million people directly and indirectly, she said.

Morocco has a tourism promotion roadmap that aims to invest 6.1 billion dirhams to attract 17.5 million tourists in 2026 and 26 million tourists by 2030.

In two years, the sector should be able to generate revenue worth 120 billion dirhams in hard currency, the Moroccan official said.