Tourism Performance amid regional tensions: 19% increase in overnight stays and 15% of arrivals,DH 3.8 billion in revenue in one month

A good indicator of the positive perception of tourists and tour operators of Morocco. This positive trend is still valid provided it is confirmed by the arrivals and nights of February, warns an operator who refers to the risk of cancellations by big TOs in the countries of the region. The real test will be the Easter holidays. That said, for the month of January, the Department of Tourism statistics reported "positive performances that were recorded in arrivals at the border." Indeed, during the first month of the year, the evolution of tourist arrivals was up 15% compared to the same period in 2010. The same applies to the nights: classified accommodation establishments rose 19% last January. A significant change in the current context and explained both by the nights spent by non-residents (+13%) and residents (+41%) compared to the same month in 2010.

By city, Agadir accounted for 30% of the total with nearly 100,000 additional nights (an increase of 35%). The upward trend was also recorded in Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat and Ouarzazate with respectively 12, 13, 15 and 11%. Smaller increases were reported in Fez and Tangiers with 4 and 7% respectively. On average, in Morocco, the room occupancy rate was around 39% in January. This translates into an increase of 5 percentage points compared to January 2010.

By issuing country and nationality, it is the Italians who contributed the most this time to fill the hotels (39%). They are followed by Germans (25%), French (5%). However, the Spaniards showed a net decline of 18%.

For the first month of the year, some 1.06 million international passengers passed through the airports of Morocco, against 905,000 in January 2010 (an increase of 18%). Nearly half of these passengers (about 514,000) are awarded by the Mohammed V airport in Casablanca. As for the terminals of the two main destinations of the Kingdom (Marrakech and Agadir), they have attracted 24 and 9% respectively. Side revenue generated by tourism during the month of January, they rose 9.3%. On this month, revenues were $ 3.8 billion against 3.5 billion dirhams in the same period in 2010.


Jasmin!



Morocco's main competitor, the destination of Tunisia has developed a new generation of marketing arguments to make an effective return in terms of international appeal. Tunisia cleverly uses its revolution in its campaign to investors and tourists.

The new format attracted internationally. Better, Tunisia begins to take in tourism where customers are very receptive to such messages. The strike force of this argument is based on the slogan: "Come and invest in a 100% democratic. Come smell the jasmine! "Very original ...













Amin Rboub
L'Economiste