Rabat – Morocco’s National Tourist Office (ONMT) and the UAE’s carrier Emirates have signed a partnership agreement to boost tourists arrivals in Morocco.
The partnership, signed on Monday on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market show, also seeks to strengthen Morocco’s tourism assets and attractiveness in different markets.
CEO of ONMT Adel El Fakir said that the agreement is part of the 2023 “Light in action,” an initiative that focuses on improving four pillars — marketing, airline, digital, and distribution.
“This partnership will contribute to achieving our objectives of promoting Morocco as a destination and increasing tourist flows from the Middle East, the Asian continent, and also penetrating our new target markets such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, or India again by benefiting from the Emirates network and its expertise.
Badr Abbas, Emirates’s vice president of business operations for Africa, shared the same sentiment, stressing that the agreement aims to boost cooperation to support the country’s tourism sector.
Abbas also recalled the Emirates decision to restore Boeing A380 flights accessing its network to Morocco, stressing that the airline is committed to helping the North African country achieve its goal to hit 17.5 million tourist arrivals by 2026.
Under the agreement, ONMT and Emirates agreed to set up a commercial and marketing synergy to organize roadshows and prospecting actions for the Asian market.
The agreement also includes the identification of the company’s growth areas in Moroccan destinations with possible openings of direct lines, notably Marrakech.
Morocco’s tourism revenues reached $9.2 billion at the end of 2022. While the North African country recorded over 19 million overnight stays at the end of 2022, it now aims to double the number of arrivals to 26 million tourists by 2030.
