Morocco’s Desert Tourism Industry Faces Crisis as COVID-19 Shuts Down Attractions

No more tourist activities in the desert circuits of Merzouga, the Erg Chebbi dunes and the entire Tafilalet region, which has more than 100 authorized tourist establishments. In a statement to the newspaper Le Matin, Youssef Ouadjane, an associative actor, states that 62 classified tourist establishments in this region are closed, around 130 bivouacs have been shut down, more than 250 camel drivers with around 1,300 dromedaries and more than 130 tourist transport vehicles, including quads and buggies managed by 16 agencies, have closed down.

As a result, hundreds of people find themselves unemployed. Among them, 80% are not registered with the CNSS, so they are not beneficiaries of the special Covid-19 fund. Faced with this situation, Mbarek Oussidi, an associative actor and tourism promoter, says that the professionals in the sector have launched a distress call through a petition addressed to the Head of Government, Saâdeddine El Othmani.

The signatories of the petition call on the government to proceed with an assessment of the socio-economic situation at the level of this tourist destination and to provide urgent material support to the population affected by this crisis; to find sustainable palliative solutions ensuring social peace in the region and likely to ensure a decent and honorable life for its population and to strengthen the institutional capacities of the various professional organizations and the various active persons in the sector.

They also ask the government to generalize social and health coverage and to ensure that the entire population benefits from their services, to take into account the participatory approach in the assessment of the situation of the tourism sector in the region and the treatment of the anomalies it has known, in order to find concerted solutions likely to reorganize the sector and ensure the protection of the natural ecosystem of the region.