A series of initiatives are underway to boost Morocco’s visitor count to seven million this year.
First results for 2006 indicate that tourism revenues in Morocco totaled $6.24 billion, up by an impressive 17.4 per cent over 2005, according to numbers released at ITB Berlin 2007.
UNWTO figures for visitor arrivals in Morocco for the first 11 months of 2006 show a 9.3 per cent increase over the same period in 2005.
Since 2001, Morocco has been implementing its tourism development plan ‘Vision 2010’, launched by Moroccan King Mohammed VI to attract 10 million international visitors to the Kingdom by 2010. Tourism growth has been helped by the implementation of an open-skies policy with Europe, and especially by the development of services from a number of low-cost carriers.
Morocco is opening up new regions to tourism, and is targeting six coastal areas for development. These include the Tan Tan region on the southwest coast where, by 2010, around new 5,000 hotel beds and 2,000 apartments will be available for visitors in a large integrated resort area. Tourism development will also be focused on areas where renovation of historic structures are taking place, such as the UNESCO-listed ancient city of Fez, where the medina has been restored, and where a project to renovate the old Arabic gardens in underway.