Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Tourism, Handicrafts, and Social Economy, Fatima Zahra Amour has recently come under public scrutiny for spending a family vacation outside Morocco amid the country’s efforts to stimulate internal tourism.
An image of the minister, her husband, and daughter went viral on social media, with commentators saying that the minister’s decision to spend her vacation outside is “insensitive” and does not live up to her duties as a government official.
One Moroccan social media user wrote on his Facebook page: “Internal Tourism!!! The Moroccan tourism minister, Fatima Zahra Ammor, is spending her vacation with her family in Zanzibar, paying for her vacation in foreign currency, despite the economic crisis the country is facing.”
The post added, “Since her appointment in the government, she has been appealing to Moroccans to encourage internal tourism and save the sector, but it appears that the minister was referring to Tanzania rather than Morocco.”
Activists and politicians have also joined calls condemning the minister for her “lapse of judgment.”
Issac Charia, Secretary General of a liberal, right-wing conservative party, wrote on Facebook: “… the minister is encouraging tourism in Zanzibar at the expense of Moroccan taxpayers.”
He explained, “These ministers are the Frenchified competent officials that the National Rally of Independents – – the ruling political party – – had promised us. Competent officials only acknowledge their country when it comes to getting ministerial positions, big paychecks, and privileges.”
For Charia, “this scandal does not only call for acquitting the tourism minister, but it calls for acquitting the entire government including its head, and other parties forming the coalition.”
Read Also: ‘This is Morocco’: Despite Grand Development Projects, Problems Persist
Some netizens have spoken in defense of the minister’s right to a lifestyle of her choosing, saying that she is free to choose her vacation destination. Others, however, have vehemently pushed against this argument by maintaining that the decision was unbefitting of a senior government official as the large majority of Moroccan households grapple with a grinding cost of living crisis.
Sarcastically asking whether the tourism ministry has “the right to spend her vacation abroad,” one activist lashed out at what he characterized as a misguided and insensitive move.
“… It is not within her right to promote any other tourist destination other than her country’s…because she would not find a single picture of any other respectful country’s tourism minister who spends his vacation abroad while still in office,” the activist argued.
His Facebook post especially took issue with the minister’s decision to have her family’s quality time abroad instead of staying in Morocco to diligently oversee the implementation of policies aimed at reviving Morocco’s tourism sector as it gradually emerges from the COVID-19 mist.
“During the peak of the tourism season, tourism ministers don’t take their annual leave… as they remain bound to their offices and take the right measures to ensure it is successfully managed,” the activist conconcluded.
“They go on multiple visits to hotels, touristic complexes, and facilities to inspect the quality of services delivered. Accordingly, it wouldn’t befit the education minister to take his leave at the beginning of the school year, or the sports minister to take his leave during the African Olympic games.”
