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Rabat – Despite the complicated global situation, Lahcen Haddad, the Moroccan Minister of Tourism, said he has “an optimistic evaluation of his 2020 strategy.”
His vision, according to tourisme.gov.ma, is that Morocco should be among the 20 largest global destinations and a staple of the Mediterranean periphery in terms of long-term development. He also wants to target the Chinese market with its 98.2 million tourists in 2013, which generated as much as $102 billion in expenditure worldwide.
The Minister wants to attract some 100,000 Chinese tourists by 2020. He is determined to make Morocco a unique destination. He unveiled these ambitions during the Forum of Tourism Engineering held in Rabat on May 31.
Organized by the Moroccan Society of Touristic Engineering (SMIT), the Forum was suitable for the Minister to send his message to 200 participants, including other African Ministers of Tourism, managers of institutions of tourism development, experts, and national and international professionals.
In an interview to Le Point Afrique, the Minister said, “We have reached an objective of 10 million tourists in 2013 despite an unfavorable conjuncture. The impact, which is extremely negative, of the terrorist threat on touristic activities doesn’t exclude, indeed, any country of the world.”
“We registered within this context at the end of 2015, a settlement of performances in this sector, but we are confident because the obtained results are suitable compared to our neighbors,” Haddad added.
Morocco has experienced a 1 percent decrease in the number of incoming visitors during a time when many regional destinations suffered a decrease of 2 percent.
Haddad considers this aligned with Morocco’s vision, but believes that adjustments are needed in this field. “This is why, at the middle of the vision strategy, we are actually evaluating Moroccan tourism at 2020 in order to prioritize the sites of construction in order to allow an increase of our tourism performance,” he explained.
Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE) is a type of tourism that brings together groups for a specific sort of business tourism, which constitutes one of the Minister’s priorities, primarily due to its strong value in this field.
Additionally, the Minister talked about Casablanca, which is among the top financial centers in Africa.
He said that Casablanca is characterized by a heritage and cultural dynamism, which “helped the city make many strategic investments,” such as the building of Marina, urban rehabilitation, valuation of the ancient city, and the preservation of architectural heritage in the new Medina.
This city has also made great improvements in air connectivity by expanding existing flights and opening new lines, according to the Minister.
