Morocco Shifts Focus to Domestic Tourism Amid Global Travel Slump

In Morocco, the tourism sector will lose up to 138 billion dirhams in foreign exchange tourism revenues for the 2020-2022 period. This is what a study carried out by the National Confederation of Tourism (CNT) reveals. In order to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the sector, Zoubir Bouhoute, director of the Provincial Tourism Council of Ouarzazate, proposes an alternative: the use of nationals.

"The crisis will certainly affect the entire global economy, its impact, however, will not be of the same intensity in all countries, in particular due to the importance of the recovery plans put in place and the colossal sums mobilized, but also given the structure of the tourism activity of each destination, the OECD countries for whom domestic tourism represents on average 75% of domestic tourism expenditure would be less affected than Morocco whose activity depends on more than 78% on international tourism," explains Zoubir Bouhoute.

For him, nationals are a joker... but the cards need to be redistributed for a new game and the rules of the game need to be reviewed. However, the director of the Provincial Tourism Council of Ouarzazate indicates that the volume of recovery will depend on the deadlines of the state of health emergency and the support measures that will be put in place.

"It is also imperative that Morocco revise its tourism development model. The use of nationals should not be considered as a simple palliative in times of crisis, to be discarded as soon as international arrivals resume, it must constitute the core of the future tourism strategy," he assures. And this, by increasing both the supply of accommodation facilities reserved for nationals and by supporting domestic consumption through the implementation of travel vouchers or tourism vouchers with the involvement of the regions and professionals in the sector.