Morocco and Israel Explore Tourism Partnerships at Business Conference

This hybrid business conference (live in-person and direct remote) that brought together more than 45 professionals, including 23 Israeli partners, was held under the auspices of the Moroccan Travel Management Club (a kind of patronage of receptive agencies, the most structured agencies, DMCs, and MICE specialists), reports L’Économiste. The newspaper summarizes the expectations and questions of Israeli professionals and tour operators as follows: "The procedures and modalities for easing visas, the cost of air transport, the absence of a direct line, the security in Morocco (safe country), the languages, the connectivity between the big cities and small towns (Tinghir, Errachidia, Sefrou...), the cost of living, or the management of the Covid crisis (PCR test, social distancing, barrier measures, travel restrictions, mask wearing, gel...)"

"The very first forecasts of this partnership estimate a volume of 100,000 to 120,000 arrivals as early as this year to reach 200,000 tourists by 2023," i.e., "30% individual and family tourists, 20% business, trade, congresses, seminars... and 50% group visits with packages for the discovery of the country, pilgrimages, visits to synagogues, mausoleums, culture, places of worship, recollection...," details the same source, which notes that this is a real windfall: "This opening stimulates appetite not only among the Moroccan community of origin established in Israel, estimated at 1 million people, but also among Jewish tourists."

On the Moroccan side, there are some 5,000 Jewish families who wish to make regular trips to Israel. To this are added Moroccan Muslims who wish to go to the Al Qods Grand Mosque.