Morocco Unveils New Tourism Recovery Plan Amid Ongoing Pandemic Crisis

This plan developed by the Minister of Tourism was presented on Thursday in the Council of Government. In her presentation, Minister Nadia Fettah stressed the situation of tourism which is going through an unprecedented crisis in 20 years. According to the government member, the current situation requires sustained intervention by the public authorities to boost the restart of the sector. In her opinion, the impacts of this crisis could continue to be felt, at least until the end of 2023.

Here are the main axes of the presentation of the Minister of Tourism unveiled after the final adoption of the draft amending finance law.

The relaunch of tourism will be based on three pillars:

• Monitoring of prices and promotional offers (monitoring of prices charged by each region);

• Promotion of the regions: financing of promotional communication campaigns of each region by the ONMT, also offering technical support;

• Health upgrading (implementation of health measures, field work of regional delegates)

During her presentation, the minister announced the launch of an international call for tenders in partnership with the UNDP for the deployment of a precise reference system, integrating the preventive measures against Covid-19. It should take into account all the departments of the tourist accommodation establishment (reception, restaurant, rooms, kitchen, administration, luggage, customer service, etc.). These are the measures relating to health safety in tourist establishments.

This reference system has been transformed into a Label bearing the name "Welcome safely". Approved by the Ministry of Health, ONSSA and the Moroccan Institute of Standardization (Imanor), this new label will be deployed from July 22 next, and will be based on three main axes:

• Implementation of a digital self-assessment platform to identify the level of compliance with the label by the establishment;

• Training and capacity building of professionals on this label;

• Support for a large number of accommodation units in the process of obtaining the "Welcome safely" label;

In addition, Nadia Fettah’s department has committed to mobilizing its external services to accelerate the scheduling of employee screening tests in the sector and facilitate the resumption of their activities in complete safety. For the record, nearly 25,400 employees benefited from this operation (which is still ongoing across the country) on July 15, 2020. As for the sector’s recovery plan, it emphasizes the role of public procurement in revitalizing the tourism machinery.

In this context, an action plan has been put in place:

• Recognize the contribution, mobilization and considerable efforts made by frontline staff to work towards controlling the health situation and protecting the health and safety of citizens by allowing them to benefit from bonuses giving them access to tourist services and benefits in the Kingdom;
• Favor, within the framework of the services and benefits offered to members of social welfare foundations and associations, the preference for domestic tourism by mobilizing and directing resources to support the classified tourist offer in accordance with the regulations in force;
• Encourage the programming and organization of Board of Directors meetings, training sessions, seminars and events, in classified tourist establishments in the different regions of the Kingdom and favor, for this purpose, the use of approved tourist service providers and event agencies;
• Maintain the sponsorships, patronages and subsidies granted to all events taking place on Moroccan soil and involving tourism operators;
• Consider the diversification of the localities to host the various events in order to promote the recovery of tourism in all regions of the Kingdom.