In addition to efforts put in place by the sector’s operators, Morocco’s Atlas Lions also contributed to the country’s attractiveness.
Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Tourism Fatima Ezzahra Ammor introduced the measures that the North African country is taking to ensure a successful tourist season in 2023.
As part of the measures, the minister said Morocco’s National Tourist Office (ONMT) secured 4.4 million seats with 19 airlines for the summer season.
“The year 2023 will be a record year in terms of flight programming, with the opening of 23 new lines this summer, serving 8 Moroccan destinations connected to 9 foreign markets,” the minister told state media news agency MAP.
The flights will be offered by 19 airlines with a capacity of over 244,000 seats.
The minister also mentioned the partnerships signed with international online agencies, with the aim of reaching 4.3 million overnight stays during the summer season.
This is in addition to 50 other partnerships with traditional travel agencies with forecasts of reaching over 860,000 customers.
“We will continue to consolidate our promotional efforts through the “Morocco, Land of Lights” campaign on the main foreign export markets. Not to mention the effects of the exceptional momentum that our country is experiencing at the international level, which will extend throughout the year 2023,” she said.
The “Morocco, Land of Lights” initiative is a campaign from ONMT aimed at promoting the North African country’s tourism assets, including cultural diversity.
The minister also celebrated this year’s tourism performance, recalling that Morocco recorded over 1.1 million arrivals during the month of May alone.
“This represents a growth of +55% compared to May 2019, our reference year. This good performance has several explanations,” Ammor said, attributing this positive performance to “proactive efforts” that started before the end of the pandemic.
“Our country has mobilized all means to ensure a rapid revival of the sector and put it back on the path to growth. At the same time, we aimed to bring the sector back to its normal state, which was a priority, in addition to the work carried out to improve the attractiveness of the ‘Morocco’ destination in preparation for the take-off of the sector,” she said.
Recalling an emergency plan of MAD 2 billion (a little over $200 million) for the sector, Ammor said that this budget helped strengthen air transport and the various measures taken by the country to boost Morocco’s attractiveness.
She also attributed much of this positive development to the Atlas Lions’ contribution to boosting Morocco’s attractiveness during the 2022 World Cup.
“All these efforts have allowed us to recover 84% of arrivals for the year 2022 and to achieve double-digit growth compared to 2019, from January 2023,” she said.
A recent report from CARMA, a Dubai-based media intelligence provider, showed that Morocco’s global perception has significantly improved at all levels following the Atlas Lions’ uplifting performances during the 2022 World Cup.
The report stressed that Google search trends related to Morocco skyrocketed after the global tournament, rising by 273%, while Wikipedia page visits for Morocco increased by 453%. In addition, social media posts about the North African country increased by 764%, representing a total of 12.1 million posts.
Source: Morocco World News
