Morocco’s Car Rental Industry Faces Crisis as Travel Restrictions Tighten

"Since the suspension of air links at the end of November, we have gone back to March 20, 2020, the day the state of emergency was declared. Operators are recording a downpour of booking cancellations for the period from December to February. The end-of-year holidays correspond to the very high season which represents about 25% of our turnover," explains Tarik Dbilij, president of the Federation of Self-Drive Car Rental Companies in Morocco (FLASCAM), to the newspaper l’Economiste.

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The sector was hit hard by the health crisis with its share of border closures, travel bans and lockdowns. Throughout this crisis period, the sector did not receive any state aid, reports L’Économiste. And for good reason, car rental companies claim the status of tourism operators because their clientele is 78% non-resident tourists. An opinion not shared by the supervisory ministry.

Read: Morocco’s Car Rental Industry Faces Crisis as Bookings Plummet

Left behind, industry professionals had to sell around 27,000 vehicles to cope with the crisis. The sector’s employees, estimated at 20,000, have never been taken into account in the 2,000 DH per month subsidy granted to employees in other sectors such as tourism.

Read: Morocco’s Car Rental Industry Faces Crisis: 60% of Agencies Bankrupt, Thousands of Jobs at Risk

According to FLASCAM, 3,200 out of 7,200 companies have already gone bankrupt and others are also on the verge of closing down. "Last June, many of our colleagues bought some 7,000 new vehicles to replenish their fleet. But with the suspension of flights for an indefinite period, they can no longer place vehicles," says Dbilij.