Morocco’s Tourism Sector Faces Investment Freeze Amid COVID-19 Crisis

"For now, the priority, for both foreign and Moroccan investors, is first to safeguard existing businesses and their jobs, and then possibly, for those with solid financial resources, to turn to the future by preparing for the recovery," said an investor who requested anonymity in an interview with Médias24. For him, the current priority is to survive. "The investments planned for 2020 have been postponed indefinitely," he added.

However, he specifies that the only investments maintained concern renovations. According to him, many projects planned before the start of the health crisis last March had to be postponed. "So, if some are rejoicing over the recent investments of Club Med in Morocco, it must be specified that apart from a small extension in Marrakech, these are only renovation investments and in addition, the initial investor has ended up withdrawing from the Essaouira project," he explained. [...] "We must also salute the Spanish group Barcelo which has also continued the renovation work of its hotels in Morocco."

This investor hopes for a possible recovery in April next year. "This does not mean that everything will return to normal next April," he qualifies. Another investor is a bit more optimistic. According to him, a credible assessment of investment flows can only be made at the end of this year. "Not having a mechanism that allows us to measure the stoppage or continuation of tourism investment flows, it is still too early to pronounce on the current trend. However, it is certain that the pace of investments has undeniably slowed down, even if there are still people who are registering with the investment commission. In general, the current crisis will result in a 6 to 18 month shift in projects," he says.

"While it is difficult to assess the number of abandonments, it is true that the appetite for tourism investments will be as affected as real estate investments. This lack of interest is not specific to tourism but to the pandemic that has affected all sectors and economies of the planet," he relativizes.