Morocco’s Tourism Sector Hit Hard by COVID-19, IMF Report Shows

8 August 2020 – bySylvanus@Bladi · 1 min read

The health crisis related to the coronavirus has had a very negative impact on ten African countries including Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. This is what a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) entitled "Global Economic Imbalances and the Covid-19 Crisis" indicates.

It emerges from this report that the Covid-19 pandemic has repercussions on balances of payments, hotel bookings and international flights. Result: more than 80% of international air traffic have been canceled. Same situation for hotels that have remained closed for the last four months.

Morocco remains and remains the African country most affected by the health crisis. Since its GDP recorded a 3.8% loss in the tourism sector. On the other hand, at the international level, the kingdom is behind Thailand, Greece and Portugal which have experienced respective losses of 6.1%, almost 6% and 4.3% of their GDP.

The data from the Foreign Exchange Office indicate that in 2019 Moroccan tourism contributed 78.8 billion dirhams to the national economy.

This year, the smooth running of the tourism sector will undoubtedly depend on the resumption of economic activity by September, the IMF is convinced.

Category: Economy

Keywords:

Tunisia IMF Egypt