Morocco’s Tourism Industry Eyes August Rebound After Slow Start to Summer

Fatim-Zahra Ammor is optimistic. Bookings are accelerating and August occupancy rates will be higher than last year, hopes the Minister of Tourism, who acknowledges that July did not meet expectations due to the delay in end-of-year exams, the European Cup and legislative elections in France, Morocco’s leading market.

The president of the Regional Tourism Council (CRT) of the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region, Rkia Alaoui, believes that the summer season this year started with a delay. "This is explained by the 8 to 10 day delay in the school calendar, which ended on June 15..." she specifies, adding that French mission students only took their vacation around July 5. Rkia Alaoui also argues that rumors about rising prices, spread on social media, have been detrimental to tourism activity.

The low attendance noted in July could also be explained by the fact that many tourists traveled on the occasion of Eid al-Adha and exhausted their travel budget, observes the president of the CRT of Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima, who remains optimistic, assured that the recovery will be there in August. In the same vein, Salaheddine Benhammane, the president of the CRT Agadir-Souss-Massa, told Médias24 that his region experienced a record influx of tourists in June and expects a peak in August.

"There is a drop in attendance at luxury establishments, but the 17 clubs in the ochre city have an occupancy rate between 70% and 90%," reveals Abdellatif Abouricha, communication manager of the CRT of Marrakech-Safi-Essaouira. The beginning of the season was difficult, admits Youssef Zaki, president of the CRT of the Oriental, who is counting on the massive arrival of Moroccans living abroad in August to get out of this "crisis".