MTM to Re-think About Tourism Sector in Morocco

MTM - The International Fair for Tourism Professionals

From the 14th to 17th January 2010 Marrakech will host the third edition of Morocco Travel Market. The event is considered an opportunity for tourism professionals to exhibit their products and exchange their experience. What makes this year’s edition special is the theme of financial crisis that the world is touched by. There has been a debate that Moroccan tourism is seriously influenced by the economic crisis, unemployment is rising, and also the effects of the pandemic influenza H1N1. All these factors make it very challenging for Morocco to re-start. Yet, compared to other countries in the region, “Morocco could manage to confront the financial obstacle in the last three months, though it is still decreasing compared to last year” Mr. Rachid Bouamara (the General Secretary of the National Federation of Hotels Industry) said. According to him, the new trends of pro-global crisis’ tourists visit Morocco but just for less days and they consume less local products.

In a question about the strategies that the NFHT thinks will be effective solutions to develop tourism market after the global crises, the general Secretary believes that the country should have a change of plans and that Morocco needs to target other fields of tourism industry like cultural tourism, sport tourism, eco-tourism, etc. “these types of tourism attract more tourist, hence we can develop the domain” Mr. Rachid Bouamara said. On the other hand, while talking about the Moroccan vision of 2010 to achieve 10 millions of tourists, the Director of NFHT Mr. Abdelaziz Samim says that “the Moroccan perspectives for 2010 are not yet clear but still we are optimistic and hope for the best”.

© 2010 – 2011, Hafsa Oubou. All rights reserved. – Reproduction of Newstime Africa content on any other news medium without the prior consent or approval of the publishers is forbidden, and in direct contravention of International copyright laws. Violators will be pursued and prosecuted.