Threatened with bankruptcy because of the closure of the borders, Moroccan tour operators called on Tuesday, January 4, Rabat to “to save” tourism, a vital sector of the kingdom’s economy, almost at a standstill following the resumption of the coronavirus pandemic. About 200 professionals representing travel agencies demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Tourism to demand support measures for their activities and a reopening of borders. Both bosses and employees of tour operators also demanded the opening of a dialogue with the authorities in the face of “dramatic collapse” sector since the start of the pandemic.
Tourism at half mast
All passenger flights to and from Morocco have been suspended since November 29 and at least until January 31 due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant.
“The latest border closure is a fatal blow, other competing countries have taken advantage of it, such as Turkey, Egypt or the Emirates.”
Raja Ould Hamada, owner of a travel agency in Marrakechto AFP
If in 2019 the receipts of the tourism sector, which weighs nearly 7% of the GDP, were around 80 billion dirhams (7.5 billion euros) for 13 million tourists, they had fallen by 65% at the start of 2021, to 28 billion of dirhams, according to official figures. The social impact is also devastating: between 20% and 30% of jobs in the sector have already been destroyed, according to Lahcen Zelmat, President of the National Federation of the Hotel Industry (FNIH). “We have not received any support, neither material nor moral. We ask the officials of the ministry to listen to us and to hear our difficulties”, regrets Raja Ould Hamada. The National Federation of the Hotel Industry asks “the postponement of bank loans and the assumption of interest by the State and above all that we are left to work by reopening the borders”.
“Preserving the gains”
Faced with criticism, Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor has pledged to urgently apply a vast support plan. Monthly aid of 2,000 dirhams (around 190 euros) has been promised to employees in the sector for the last quarter of 2021. Under the effect of the restrictions, losses linked to tourism activities have been assessed at “at least one billion dirhams” for the end of year holiday season, according to an operator quoted last month by the economic information site Medias24.
The authorities justify the drastic measures “to preserve Morocco’s achievements in the fight against the pandemic”. Morocco has registered 4,299 new cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said on January 4, and 14,867 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.