An agreement was signed in this regard, in Rabat last week, between the founding members of the MCB: the Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts, the Moroccan National Tourism Office, the Moroccan tourist engineering company, the National Office of Airports, the National Federation of Tourism and the Regional Tourism Councils of Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat and Agadir.

This niche business generates a worldwide turnover of $300 billion with an average expenditure per business tourist of around 1500 euro in a visit lasting an average of two days.

Speaking at this occasion, the Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, Mohamed Boussaid emphasized the importance of MICE, which represents 20% of the world travel market which comprises 9000 congresses, of which 54% are rotating. In addition, 40% of tourists who have discovered a country in connection with MICE return to the country as private tourists, adds the Minister. MCB has considerable advantages in attracting and organizing major sport, cultural, and scientific events.

For his part, the Director General of the ONMT, Abdelhamid Addou said that MCB will be the armed wing of the tourism strategy implementation in Morocco and will better position our country as host of the biggest conferences.

Morocco is a MICE destination by its geographical position (3 hours on average from major European markets), the Open Sky policy, the congress infrastructure development projects, particularly in Casablanca, Marrakech, and Tangier and the expertise developed by some Moroccans.

Generally this market comprises four sectors: congresses and conventions, trade fairs and exhibitions, incentives, and private business travel. In Marrakech, incentives hold the biggest part. According to CRT, business tourism represents between 12 et 15% of the total arrivals and of stays. The average duration of this kind of tourism is four days with a daily personal expenditure of 150 to 200 euro without counting the accommodation and flights.

Incentive customers who choose Marrakech are the French, Italian, Spanish, and now the British market. The most present business sectors are health (medicine and pharmacy), banking and insurance, ICT (information and communication technology) and agribusiness. To attract customers, Moroccan agencies work in partnership with their counterparts in the market countries, but a large number of European companies now have incentive cells within human resources department. Now requests are from companies within Morocco for training, seminars, conventions or staff motivation.

In this period of the crisis Mediterranean, Arab and African destinations are privileged. Although there is a low demand on tourism at the global level, influx of tourism will not weaken in 2009. The International Tourism Organization envisages a growth rate of 1 to 2% for North African countries as opposed to the global growth rate (0 to -3%) in 2009. However, these countries should organize more marketing and promotional campaigns to boost up this important sector in their economy.

The MCB will certainly contribute to strengthening the public-private partnerships established in the last few years and advance the philosophy of the 2020 vision in preparation for the next decade to develop quality tourism.