Tough times ahead for Morocco’s tourism industry

Tourism businesses saw their hopes of a recovery this year shattered after the flight bans to shield the country from new variants.

The government has so far approved aid to the sector to keep jobs but professionals complain the measure is not enough, calling for a tax exemption and stipend to workers that span from September to March.

Morocco had banned inbound passenger flights since November 29 and flag carrier RAM announced on its twitter account that it will only resume ordinary flights after Dec 31 hinting that the government intends to keep borders closed until then, much to the dismay of the tourism sector.

They are worried that the sector may find it hard to redress from the travel restrictions after both Easyjet and Ryanair announced a month-long withdrawal from Morocco until February.

The two companies were key in facilitating tourist arrivals from the European market.

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

Meanwhile, all hopes are pinned on domestic tourism to help the sector offset some of its losses.