Morocco Tourism Report 2009

Latest Statistics In December 2008, the Maghreb Arab Presse reported that tourist arrivals for January-October 2008 stood at 6.7mn, an increase of 6% year on year (y-o-y). Over the same period, international tourism receipts dropped by 1.5%, to US$5.6bn.

For the year as a whole, Tourism Minister Mohamed Boussaid believes that an annual increase of 7%, to around 7.9mn arrivals, is the most likely outcome. BMI concurs with this assessment. We also believe that tourism revenues will effectively show zero growth in 2008, in line with government projections.

The ongoing economic crisis has caused us to revise our forecasts for tourist arrivals in Morocco over 2009 and 2010 downwards. This is because consumers from key source markets (such as France and Spain) will cut back on discretionary spending, such as vacations, during the period of economic uncertainty. That said, we remain bullish on the longer-term prospects for the Moroccan industry, which benefits from strong levels of state support.

Govt takes action to support tourism sector In December 2008, the Moroccan government announced a new strategy ‘Cap 2009’ to help the domestic tourism industry weather the current economic uncertainty. The plan aims to reduce the impact of the economic crisis by boosting tourism efforts in four regions: Marrakech, Fez, Casablanca and Agadir, according to local media. Mindful of the fact that international tourist arrivals may fall in the wake of the worsening global economic backdrop, Cap 2009 is looking to promote domestic tourism. Cap 2009 also looks to target foreign markets where demand might remain relatively buoyant, namely the Gulf region and Russia, alongside traditional markets such as Europe.

Morocco also wants to ensure that investment in the tourism sector does not dry up as a result of the credit crunch. To this end, CAP 2009 has an allocation of MAD50mn in the 2009 budget, according to local reports.

Vision 2010 And Plan Azur The cornerstone of Morocco’s tourism strategy for the balance of this decade remains ‘Vision 2010.’ This programme aims to attract 10mn tourists to the African nation by 2010. Other key aspects of the programme include the creation of some 160,000 new hotel beds, bringing the total national capacity to 230,000 beds. The country also hopes to create 600,000 new tourism sector jobs. The key points of Vision 2010 are listed on page 10 of this report. A key component of Vision 2010 is ‘Plan Azur.’ This identifies six key resorts to be developed along the country’s extensive coastline. A full description of Plan Azur can be found on page 23 of this report.