Morocco’s Merzouga Desert Shifts Focus to Domestic Tourism Amid Pandemic

Tourism activity in this beautiful region of the kingdom has experienced a considerable decline in these times of health crisis. "The sudden and rapid drop in foreign tourist arrivals has had negative consequences on revenues," said Lahcen Ougharas, a hotel owner in the region. Merzouga is indeed one of the world’s tourist destinations that hosts tourist, cultural and sporting activities every year. These activities were stopped due to the pandemic and restrictive measures. A situation deplored by several players.

Domestic tourism can be a solution for Merzouga’s tourism, a region that offers wonderful panoramas, modern tourist accommodations and other attractions such as the splendid desert without forgetting its magnificent golden sand dunes. The players in this sector are then calling on professionals to think about various solutions, to promote the revival of tourism activity in the region.

The losses in the sector, of which foreign tourism is the main source of revenue, reached 18.3 billion dirhams at the end of the first seven months of 2020, according to the Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts. For the month of July, the decline in these revenues is 90.1%. Tourist arrivals and overnight stays in classified accommodation establishments fell by 63.5% and 59.1% respectively at the end of June 2020.

It should be recalled that in order to limit the consequences of the health crisis on tourism and accelerate its recovery, a 21-measure program contract for the period 2020 to 2022 was signed on August 3. This contract concerns several public and private actors at both the national and regional levels, in order to regain the pre-crisis performance, reports La Map.