Rabat – Morocco announced a 40% increase in airline seats this year as the country continues to pledge more efforts to boost its tourism industry.
Minister of Tourism Fatim Zahra Ammor said on Monday that this development follows a 22% increase achieved in 2023.
Ammor announced that the tourism ministry is now working on several fronts, including promoting air connections, diversifying tourism offerings, as well as boosting tourism infrastructure.
The ministry’s goal is also to develop the domestic sector through a roadmap to boost coastal and eco-tourism.
“The challenge is to promote year-round domestic tourism, so that all Moroccans can benefit from their country’s tourism qualification through coastal and natural space series,” she said.
Commenting on Morocco’s tourism achievements this year, the minister said that the country has been experiencing “exceptional growth” in the first half of 2024, with 7.4 million tourist arrivals.
This represents a 14% increase compared to 2023 and a 38% increase compared to 2019, the minister said, noting that the target had indicated an additional million tourists for the entirety of 2024.
She added that Morocco received over 900,000 additional tourists in just six months.
Recalling last year’s data, the minister stressed that the countries achieved “record achievements in the tourism sector with 14.5 million tourists visiting our country in 2023.”
She said that number represented an increase of 34% compared to 2022.
“The sector also achieved 105 billion dirhams ($10.7 billion) in foreign currency revenues in 2023, an increase of 27 billion dirhams ($2.75 billion) compared to 2019,” she added.
Recently, the ministry also celebrated a good performance in the sector this year. The industry recorded $942.7 million in foreign currency as of May. The number marked a 11% increase compared to the same period last year.
