Casablanca – After being barred from traveling for two years due to the COVID crisis, Moroccan tourists are now compelled to give up on their travel plans because of a rising inflation level and unreasonably harsh visa restrictions.
With a deepening worldwide inflation level and severe visa limitations, Moroccan travelers are left with Turkey as their sole option for a decent holiday or tourist tour abroad, said Khalid Benazzouz, the president of the association of travel agents in the Casablanca-Settat region.
According to Benazzouz, the maintenance of the PCR test — which must be presented on return to Morocco and costs 80 euros — as a requirement for traveling abroad, will prevent many Moroccans from spending their vacations abroad, especially if they are a family of four or more members.
Although providing a negative PCR is not required for those traveling by sea to Spain, Benazzouz thinks visas are another restriction for Moroccan travelers.
“Indeed, despite the recent political rapprochement between Morocco and its Iberian neighbor, our customers are still facing long appointments to submit their visa application,” he stressed. “Not to mention the increasing number of inexplicable or unreasonable [visa] denials from a nation like France.”
For him, Turkey, which is visa-free for Moroccans, benefits the most from this situation, as a large number of visa-denied, frustrated Moroccan tourists are stuck with that country as the only decent and affordable destination for a family holiday.
“Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, this destination [Turkey] offers the advantage of being close to Morocco, and especially to be very affordable in terms of airfare, accommodation, shopping,” Benazzouz explained.
But even with Turkey being a decent last resort for Moroccans wishing to travel, most of them are discouraged from going ahead with their travel projects due to the ongoing, interconnected global crises and the resulting inflationary pressures on their purchasing power.
The rise in the cost of flights, hotels, and restaurants, among other things, is preventing a large number of people, especially in developing countries like Morocco, from traveling throughout the world.
This means the far-reaching impact of global inflation, price increases, and the Ukraine war might grow even worse in the coming weeks and months, punishing the global travel industry and especially harming countries like Morocco whose tourism industry is of considerable importance to the national economy.
