Assilah Tourism Struggles to Recover as Businesses Slash Prices Amid Pandemic

The happiness aroused by the resumption of tourist activities was short-lived among the professionals in the sectors in Assilah. The situation is quite worrying with the gloom of business, a week after the easing of health measures, notes Aujourd’hui.ma. It is desolation among tourism professionals and in the various types of businesses, whose turnover usually peaks in July and August. In the streets, tourists are almost absent.

According to a bazarriste on the famous Al-Kharazine street, they (the professionals in the sector, editor’s note) hoped to make up for the losses caused by the covid-19 pandemic (during Semana Santa (Easter) and Eid). He estimates that they did not prepare enough for this summer period by stocking up in other cities as usual. "If the tourists come back, we won’t be able to meet their demand for new summer-specific items," he laments.

To make a success of this season, the majority of restaurateurs, cafe owners and holders of various other non-food businesses have taken advantage of their closure to carry out embellishment or renovation work on their establishments or stores in preparation for the summer season. The other trick they found to avoid losing the entire season is to lower prices or maintain those of the low season. All these reforms are carried out in compliance with the authorized reception capacity.

As for Mohamed Amine Kassri, the manager of a cafe-restaurant in the city center, this sad atmosphere with the absence of tourists in the middle of early summer does not give them any reason to hope to save this activity during this season. Pending new decisions concerning inter-city travel and the end of school exams, they want to bet on domestic tourism to get out of this crisis with as little damage as possible.