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Rabat – The city of Agadir, one of Morocco’s major urban centers located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, is no longer attracting tourists and figures are staggering.
Agadir used to be one of the country’s top tourist destinations. However, statistics reveal that the region is losing its charm year after year.
According to the latest figures by the Regional Tourism Center (TRC) for December 2015, Agadir’s tourism indicates a sharp decline in 2015 compared to 2014.
The TRC revealed a reduction of 2.15 percent of arrivals meaning a loss of 884,848 tourists in 2015 compared to the previous year.
Overnight stays in Agadir also showed a major decline recording an 8.71 percent loss with 4,160,386 nights in 2015 compared to 4,557,460 overnight stays in 2014.
However, while arrivals of international tourists dropped, the TRC pointed a significant improvement in the domestic market.
According to the same source, British and Saudi Arabian tourists’ arrivals at the national level increased 6.87 percent in December 2015, but overnight stays declined by 1.96 percent.
This is explained by the fact that domestic tourists visit Agadir during the weekends and holidays but do not stay overnight in the city’s hotel accommodations.
Conversely, arrivals of Polish and French tourists in the region witnessed an even larger decline, mostly defined by geopolitical conflicts in the region, the same source noted.
German tourists’ figures, the TRC said, remained the same in number of arrivals. However, overnight stays were down 9.9 percent in December 2015 compared to the previous year.
Moreover, the length of stay for German tourists shows a decline from 4.64 nights in 2014 to 4.26 nights in 2015.
According to L’Economiste in its Wednesday issue, the decline in Agadir’s tourism may be best explained by the lack of maintenance of the city’s hotels, as well as their poor hygiene and low-quality customer service, which do not meet hospitality standards.
