Morocco’s Tourism Sector Faces $8 Billion Loss Without Government Intervention

"The mountain has not yet given birth, neither to a mouse nor to an elephant!" confides the professional to Le360. This is the main point to remember from the meeting held last Friday, June 19, at the Prime Minister’s Office, between the delegation of tourism professionals, led by the Minister of the sector, Nadia Fettah Alaoui, and the Head of Government, Saâdeddine El Othmani. According to him, the roadmap proposed by the government is far from reassuring all the professionals in the sector.

Especially since "the gap between what the operators in the sector are asking for to relaunch their activities and the real intentions of the government to come to the aid of a sector devastated by the violence and depth of the crisis is widening," he points out. For him, it is time to take concrete action. Otherwise, the sector could record a colossal loss of nearly 80 billion DH in foreign exchange earnings if the preparation of the summer season is compromised.

To relaunch Moroccan tourism, the professionals in the sector propose a synergy of actions between the government and the banks, which will allow them to meet their expectations. These expectations are: wage subsidies, exemption from income tax, deferral of tax payments, financing of working capital and rescheduling of outstanding loans.