Rabat – The Moroccan government has requested that the World Tourism Organization cancel its 24th General Assembly, scheduled to be held in Marrakech, to avoid “a worsening sanitary situation” in the country.
The event, which was originally scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 3 in Marrakech, will now be held in Madrid during the same date.
The General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is held every two years to decide on the budget and agenda of the organization, as well as to discuss important issues related to the tourism sector.
It is considered to be one of the most important global meetings of senior tourism officials and high-level representatives of the private sector..
Morocco was elected as the host country to organize the next general assembly during the 23rd UNWTO assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2019.
Morocco secured 74 votes, compared to 17 and 11 votes for Kenya and the Philippines, respectively.
Ion Vilcu, the Director of Affiliate Members Department at the UNWTO, sent an announcement detailing the change in host country via email to each of the 43 member nations.
According to Vilcu, the Moroccan government requested the change due to the potential of external contamination, which the north African country preferred to avoid by renouncing hosting rights.
The international event will now be held at the UNWTO’s Madrid headquarters, and will attract several thousand professionals from the sector.
Morocco’s tourism industry has suffered yet another setback following the suspension of flights to and from Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands, resulting in a mass cancellation of hotel reservations and tourism activities in the country.
The Moroccan tourism sector is also expected to be adversely affected by the newly enacted national vaccine pass mandate, in addition to restrictions on travel.
According to the UNWTO’s statistics, the global tourism sector lost $ 1.3 trillion (MAD 11.8 trillion) in 2020, an amount nearly 11 times greater than the loss recorded during the global economic crisis of 2008.
The UNWTO estimated that 2020 was the worst year on record in tourism history, as international tourist numbers declined by 1 billion from 2019.
