Reservations bounce back, Pass and PCR still a problem
The tourism sector in Morocco is picking up again since the lifting of restrictions linked to Covid-19. Thus, flight and hotel reservations have rebounded, allowing operators in the sector to breathe after two years of shutdown.
The Kingdom’s airports have achieved very good figures in the last two months after the authorities’ decision to open the airspace. Thus, the percentage of reservations in some airlines has reached 85%. A figure never achieved for two years of pandemic, according to professional sources.
In view of these figures, tourist operators are betting on Moroccan customers by launching offers “attractive », in view of the stabilization of the epidemiological situation and the resumption of interurban travel.
In detail, the first week of the opening of the air space by the Kingdom (from February 7 to 13), the international airport of Marrakech recorded 291 flights during this period, then 356 flights the following week, to reach 394 flights at the end of February. Additionally, the same airport recorded 799 return flights over the past week (April 8-16), an average of 114 flights per day.
That said, and according to an official study, the tourism sector has suffered more than 64 billion dirhams in losses due to the current crisis, which has prompted professionals to think about ways to catch up, in particular by seeking innovative ways to attract tourists from different areas and regions of the world.
Joined by MoroccoLatestNews UKZoubir Bouhout, a player in the tourism sector, first focused on the recovery of the sector, taking into account a certain number of fundamental factors, the most important of which remain the improvement in the national epidemiological situation or the Morocco traditional tourist markets.
Our interlocutor thus underlined that there is ” promotional efforts and agreements with airlines and international tourist operators to breathe new life into the sector”.
Regarding the evolution of the pandemic in the Kingdom, the expert active in the Draa-Tafilalet region thus explained that “ there is a significant improvement in the epidemiological situation, since Morocco has gone from 5,000 contaminations/day in mid-January to less than 50 cases/day in April “.
As for traditional markets, Zoubir Bouhout believes that ” Spain has seen a drop in the rate of contamination, from 300,000 cases in January 2022 to 50,000 cases in mid-April of the same year, while the rate in France has fallen from 280,000 to 120,000 “, did he declare.
Pass and PCR, a still problematic measure
” Fear of the pandemic is no longer relevant, while the desire to travel is growing among tourists and airlines such as Ryanair and Transavia, which have confirmed that the volume of flights and seats offered to tourists have increased by 40% compared to 2019 “, he observes.
To conclude, Zoubir Bouhout underlined “ that there are agreements with tourist operators and websites specializing in reservations in order to encourage tourism in Morocco “, noting that” the return of foreign film production in Morocco, particularly in Ouarzazate, will help attract tourists “.
It should be recalled that several foreign tourism industries, notably German and British, have chosen Morocco as their main destination to relaunch their post-pandemic activity for 2022-2023.
However, the conditions of access to Morocco imposed by the competent authorities still pose a problem. Indeed, to access the Kingdom, travelers must have a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours in addition to the vaccination pass.
A measure which has been rectified for travel by sea after the competent authorities have put as conditions either the vaccine pass or the PCR. But air travel is always conditional on both documents.
Several members of the anti-covid scientific committee joined by MoroccoLatestNews UK, recommended setting up either the vaccination pass or the PCR test to access the country by air, given the epidemiological situation which is currently stable. But they insisted on respecting the barrier measures to avoid a rebound in the pandemic.
.