Tourism receipts in Morocco amounted to 15.9 billion dirhams (1 euro = 10.3 DH) in the third quarter of 2021, up 202 percent, compared to the same quarter of 2020, according to the Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecast (DEPF).
These earnings remain, however, down 40.2 percent, compared to the same period in 2019, the DEPF says in its November 2021 business note.
Tourism remains one of the most affected sectors in Morocco, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the kingdom’s tourism industry has been in trouble before, the Covid19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated these difficulties and has had a strong economic and social impact on its development. Tourism is one of the most affected sectors, due to the restrictions imposed on its activities.
The 2020 summer season is one of the worst ever that Morocco has experienced. Reported on the statistics of tourism in Morocco, this translates into unprecedented declines, a general decline in activity indicators approaching 65 percent has been recorded since the beginning of the health crisis until early 2021. The tourism sector in Morocco is said to have lost nearly 2.2 million tourists and tourism revenues have fallen by 69 percent as a result of the fall in demand for hotel rooms.
To support this sector and ensure its recovery from the crisis, a contract program, signed on August 6, 2020, provided for 21 support measures, some of which were due by the end of 2020. But the persistence of the health crisis and the deterioration of the economic context have required the updating of the provisions of this contract program through an amendment whose priority is the preservation of jobs and the economic fabric.
HA/fss/abj/APA