Morocco Mulls Summer Travel Plans for Diaspora Amid Pandemic Uncertainty

"Moroccans living abroad will be allowed to return to Morocco to reunite with their loved ones from June 30, as part of the Marhaba operation," reads a message addressed to MREs, widely published on WhatsApp. Except that no official source has denied or confirmed the information.

"I received this message on WhatsApp from a cousin in Morocco on Wednesday evening, April 8th. This message seems logical to me, but still uncertain. Meanwhile, I’m working remotely and savoring the little moments I spend at home. We don’t have a choice anyway," says Sarah, a 26-year-old Moroccan living in Belgium for 16 years, to L’Opinion.

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of continuing to limit travel to the Schengen area borders until September. This hypothesis is based on the development of the coronavirus crisis in almost all countries of the world.

Two days earlier, the French Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, urged the French to be patient and not to anticipate things by booking hotels or plane tickets abroad right away, without failing to state that it will be impossible for them to go on vacation abroad this summer. The French Minister of Ecological Transition, for her part, recommended that the French spend their summer holidays in the hexagon. A way to boost the tourism sector, hard hit by the health crisis.