Agadir Tourism Struggles Despite August Uptick, Falls Short of Pre-Pandemic Levels

The easing of health restrictions and the opening of borders just before the summer season had raised a lot of hope among professionals regarding a resumption of tourism activity, capable of cushioning the repercussions of Covid-19 on their activities.

False hopes, indicates the newspaper Les Inspirations Eco, which notes that arrivals and overnight stays in Agadir recorded, respectively, an increase of 5.68% and 13.46% during the month of August.

According to tourism operators in the seaside resort, Covid-19 has affected the summer season for the second consecutive year, particularly the summer of 2020 and that of 2021 as well as the month of August which usually experiences a strong influx of tourists.

In detail, the daily specified that the tourists who visited the destination in August 2021 barely totaled 92,879 arrivals, against 87,885 in 2020, i.e. a gap of 60,000 tourists compared to August 2019.

Also, Agadir welcomed 17,000 foreign tourists last August against 70,126 during the same period in 2019. As for the occupancy rate during the same period, the classified hotels in the resort recorded a rate of 35.82% in August 2021 against 31.13% in August 2020, an increase of 15.06%.

A rate that does not correspond to the performances recorded during the same period in normal years when the average occupancy rate fluctuated between 60% and 80%, recalls the same source.