Morocco Expects to Reach One Million British Tourists Annually

Rabat – In the next two years, the number of British tourists visiting Morocco will likely reach one million per year. The prediction was made by tourism forecast officials during a recent tourism conference in Casablanca.

More than 650,000 Britons visited Morocco in 2017, making the UK the second largest source of tourists in the kingdom after France.

The prediction was one of the conclusions of a conference panel discussion entitled “Tourism sector in Morocco: Levers of competitiveness and challenges.”

To achieve this goal, Jamal Younes Mikou, director of marketing and strategy at the Moroccan National Office of Tourism (ONMT) calls for the expansion of air links, especially to key provincial cities that are popular tourist hubs.

“We need 200,000 new seats. We must launch new hotlines like Manchester-Tangier and Bristol-Fez,” says Mikou, as reported by Le Matin.

ONMT’s director believes Morocco should promote new destinations as tourist attractions. “We should sell them new destinations such as Tangier and Fez and focus on tourism in Dakhla, he said.

Victoria Bacon, Brand and Development Manager at the Association of British Travel Agencies said that Morocco should focus on the travel trends that interest British tourists.

An overwhelming 70 percent of British tourists are interested in sustainable tourism.

“The current trend in the UK is environmentally friendly and responsible tourism products that tourists want to purchase from locals.” Bacon also explained that 70 percent of British tourists book their flights online, an area in which “Morocco is not well positioned.”

Mikou responded saying that the Office of Tourism is aware of this issue and that it is currently working on the enhancement of tourism sector online services.

In 2017, the tourism sector generated MAD 70 billion, with strong growth in the number of non-resident tourist arrivals, overnight stays in Tourist Accommodation Establishments (EHTC) and foreign currency exchange earnings, announced the Ministry of Tourism.

The number of visitors arriving to the kingdom reached 11.35 million in 2017, a ten percent increase from 2016.