Rabat – Morocco ranked 28th out of 140 countries in terms of safety and security for tourists. The World Economic Forum, an NGO with a membership of more than 1,000 multinational companies, published the rankings as part of their latest report about tourism competitiveness.
In terms of safety and security, Morocco came ahead of a number of popular tourist destinations, such as Germany (41st), the United Kingdom (45th), and France (51st).
According to the report, Finland, Iceland, and Oman are the safest countries in the world for tourists.
While Morocco ranked highly in terms of safety and security, it only came 66th in the overall rankings of travel and tourism competitiveness. Spain ranked first, followed by France, Germany, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
In addition to safety and security, the report took into consideration 13 other criteria, including infrastructure, business environment, and travel and tourism policies.
Morocco’s ranking varied depending on the criteria. Morocco is among the top 50 countries globally for business environment (38th), prioritization of travel and tourism (26th), price competitiveness (46th), environmental sustainability (44th), and cultural resources (47th).
However, Morocco ranked poorly in terms of health and hygiene (97th), human resources and labor market (99th), international openness (80th), and tourist service infrastructure (78th).
In the Middle East and North Africa region, Morocco came top in terms of travel and tourism prioritization (26th globally), and in natural resources (63rd).
The report also recognized Morocco as the country that has improved the most in the region in terms of business environment (38th globally) and air transport infrastructure (58th).
Although Morocco has made progress as a tourism market, its global rank in tourism competitiveness did not improve.
The previous report, published in 2017, put Morocco in the 65th rank overall, one rank higher than this year’s index.
Tourism is one of the main pillars of the Moroccan economy. In 2018, tourism contributed MAD 70 billion to Morocco’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The number of tourists entering Morocco annually is also on the rise. Around 11.35 million tourists visited Morocco in 2018, a 10% increase from 2016.
