Rabat – Forbes has included Royal Air Maroc CEO Abdelhamid Addou in the MENA edition of its “Top 50 Travel & Tourism Leaders.”
The American business magazine annually creates its rankings based on candidates’ career experiences, accomplishments, influence, and the size of their businesses and their owned assets.
Forbes featured 50 MENA “leaders that span across the entire travel ecosystem, including aviation, hotels, and destinations.”
Nationals from the UAE top the list with 24 featured leaders, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with 11 and 4 features each.
The selected travel and tourism leaders operate in the hotels and hospitality sector (26), aviation sector (17), and the tourism sector (7).
The magazine chose Abdelhamid Addou for the 33rd ranking. Since February 2016, Abdelhamid Addou has served as the CEO and Chairman of Royal Air Maroc. In 2021, he joined the International Air Transport Association as a board member.
Notably, Royal Air Maroc is the Moroccan national carrier and the largest in the country. Owned by the Moroccan Government, the airline joined the Oneworld Alliance in 2020. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline’s 52 aircraft fleets traveled to 99 destinations in 2019.
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Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the airline has organized special flights to repatriate Moroccan nationals residing and studying in Ukraine. The carrier arranged flights to neighboring countries, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, to return Moroccan nationals to their homeland.
On March 7, Morocco’s National Airports Office (ONDA) reported that Moroccan airports recorded 5,714 international flights from February 7 to 28, 2022, connecting North African country to Europe (64%), the Middle East (13%), the rest of Africa (13%), and North America (6%). The statistics presumably include the special repatriation flights.
With the gradual return to pre-COVID-19 aerial activities, the travel and tourism industry is witnessing a rebound.
“The travel and tourism industry experienced a revival in 2021, following one of the worst years the sector has ever seen. As countries and people continue to emerge from the cloud of the pandemic, their increasing desire to reconnect with the world is expected to become the driving force of growth in travel throughout 2022,” noted Forbes.
The American magazine expects the travel and tourism sector to be impacted by new trends such as remote work. “Hospitality venues are being used as make-shift offices for travelers,” it stated.
“Most travel companies are now favoring an asset-light approach. The separation between the management of operations and real-estate assets now allows hospitality companies to focus on their core business,” it added.
