Casablanca – As it looks to revive its tourism industry in the coming weeks, Morocco is poised to remove the PCR test for vaccinated foreign tourists traveling to the country by air, Equipment, Transport, and Logistics Minister Mohamed Abdeljalil said today.
The minister made the comments while responding to an oral question during a session at the House of Representatives on Monday, April 25. He stressed that the decision to abolish the obligation to provide the PCR test for international travel is a “priority” for the government.
Abdeljalil said, “the elimination of the PCR requirement for air flights, which impacts multiple ministerial departments is a vital and high-priority decision,” especially to “accelerate the revival of our country’s tourist sector.”
Despite being vaccinated, passengers must provide a vaccination pass and a negative PCR test result that is less than 48 hours old before boarding a flight to Morocco. For passengers traveling to Morocco through maritime borders, the scenario is different.
Following the reopening of Morocco’s maritime borders on April 8, the Ministry of Health issued a temporary health policy for marine access to Moroccan territory. Under this protocol, access to the North African country via ports is granted upon presentation of either a valid vaccination pass or a PCR test less than 72 hours old.
But many — notably those working in the country’s tourist industry and Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) — have in recent weeks called on the government to repeal the PCR mandate for both air and maritime travel.
Despite Minister Abdeljalil’s insistence that repealing the PCR test is a priority for the Moroccan government, it remains to be seen when the measure will go into force.
