Morocco Considers Tourist Tax for Cruise Ship Destinations

Impose a tax on foreign tourists. This is the proposal of El Alami to the Moroccan coastal cities included in cruise itineraries. In a post on LinkedIn, the president of the Regional Tourism Council (CRT) of the Casablanca-Settat region has asked the cities concerned to follow the example of the city of Venice in Italy, which has introduced a tourist tax.

Such a tax should help strengthen the infrastructure of the airports of these cities, added the official, stating that the tourism sector in Morocco is regaining its colors this year, after having suffered the adverse effects of the Covid-19 crisis. El Alami also mentioned the problem of pollution in most small tourist areas, not to mention the limited capacity of transport infrastructure, water management, rising prices and poor quality of tourist services.

Some cities in the north of the kingdom also face these problems when they are invaded by foreign tourists and Moroccans residing abroad (MREs), continued El Alami, stressing the need to strengthen the capacities of human resources in the tourism sector. The president of the CRT of Casablanca-Settat also called for studies to determine the real tourist reception capacities of Morocco and make estimates on visitor arrivals, with a view to the 2030 World Cup.

In this dynamic, El Alami proposed the implementation of a reservation service to visit famous tourist sites such as Jemaa el-Fna square in Marrakech, the Akchour site in Chefchaouen, or the Casablanca corniche and the Ain Diab beach.