Fez Artisans Face Economic Crisis as Pandemic Devastates Tourism and Craft Sector

The coronavirus pandemic has the bad idea of further weakening already exhausted sectors. Craftsmen find themselves without income, with customers being rare, or even non-existent. Even the pioneers of craftsmanship in Fez like Haja Fatima, Haj Abdellatif, Mohammed and others interviewed, are in turmoil and do not give much chance to the sector if the authorities do not come to their aid. The fact that the sector depends on tourism makes the difficulties even greater.

Most of the shops are closed. Those that are open are filled with inactive, depressed craftsmen, trying to pass the time with sometimes futile conversations. They remember those not-so-distant times when they could barely find the time to sit down. The pandemic has changed everything, seems to have taken away the joy of living, the strength to get up every morning.

While waiting for the activity to resume, the craftsmen try to live day by day. Between fears, despair and expectations, they hope that these difficult times will pass and be nothing more than dark memories, reports 2M.