Denver – Fifty Moroccan businessmen are urging Italy’s government to reevaluate its COVID-19 travel precautions in regards to Morocco.
In a joint letter to Italy’s ambassador in Rabat, Armando Barucco, the entrepreneurs called for a reassessment of Morocco’s placement on Italy’s highest-risk category for travel based on global COVID-19 infections rates.
The group, which included businessmen in the tourism, catering, hospitality, and real estate industries, pointed to Morocco’s declining COVID figures and broadly effective vaccination campaign
“Morocco, since the beginning of the pandemic has been included in the ‘E’ list,” meaning the country posed a significant COVID-19 infection rate, the letter noted.
It also meant that travelers returning from Morocco would be subject to numerous stipulations, including a ten-day voluntary quarantine, according to the group.
Despite Morocco having one of the lowest active infection rates in the region, the current Italian policy has eliminated a significant amount of travel to and from Morocco. By contrast, the letter noted, the “United Kingdom, with an average of about 45,000 cases of daily infections, is in the ‘D’ list.”
Further highlighting the obvious discrepancy in Italy’s assessment of COVID-19 travel risks for its citizens, the letter pointed out Italian tourists returning from the UK “although potentially more dangerous for the possible transmission of the virus…must only undergo a PRC test.”
Morocco’s stringent COVID measures, including a mandatory vaccine pass for travel in most public areas, has accelerated the country’s vaccination campaign and put it ahead of many European countries in terms of effective COVID-19 management.
Morocco’s tourism sector, like many around the world, has been hard hit by COVID-19. Officials in the country have begun implementing various measures to encourage a rebound in tourism ahead of the historically busy Christmas holiday travel season.
In a response letter to the Moroccan businessmen, Ambassador Barucco promised to forward their request to Rome, stating: “We Italians who work in Morocco, mainly in the tourism sector, suffer serious economic damage which is added to the already critical situation in which we have been living for almost two years now.”
