Rabat – Russia is planning to launch direct air flights to several countries, including Morocco.
The country’s Federal Air Transport Agency sent a notice to the heads of Russian airlines, according to Russian news agency TASS.
“To the airlines’ executives: I ask you to submit proposals for the development of air transportation with the following countries to the Department of Transportation Regulation and International Cooperation at the Federal Air Transport Agency by 05:00 p.m. on March 22,” says the notice.
TASS said that the proposal seeks to see the opening of flights from Russia to many countries, including: Myanmar, Malaysia, South Africa, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
According to TASS, the air transport agency is also “collecting proposals” to increase the number of flights from Russian destinations to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Turkiye, among others.
Morocco has become a major hub for tourism, attracting every year millions of tourists from several countries across the world.
The North African country earned a revenue of MAD 81.7 billion or $8 billion from tourism in the first 11 months in 2022, representing a recovery rate of 112% compared to 2019.
Morocco also welcomed no less than 10.9 million tourists between January and November 2022, with overnight stays amounting to 7.9 million during the same period. This represented an increase of 2% compared to 2021.
The government has attributed the development in the industry to the measures it has implemented to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.
“The tourism sector has shown good resilience and managed to resume its pre-COVID performance, thanks to a series of initiatives launched by the government to put tourism activity back on track with its achievements in the past,” Minister of Tourism Fatima-Zahra Ammor said in January.
In a more recent statement, the minister said Morocco aims to double the number of tourist arrivals to 26 million by 2030.
