Moroccan tourism professionals optimistic despite crisis
2009-06-22
Government and tourism leaders in Morocco are working together to promote the industry in the face of a souring economy.
By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Casablanca – 22/06/09
 [Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images] Tourism income in foreign currency is down 19% over last year in Morocco. |
Moroccan officials and tourism professionals concluded a meeting of the tourism board in Saïda on Saturday (June 20th), agreeing to undertake new measures to protect the vital sector from the worst effects of the global economic crisis.
According to official figures released by the ministry of tourism, the number of overnight stays in rated hotel accommodation was down 3% over the first four months of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008. At the end of April, the room occupancy rate was down to 41%, compared with 44% a year earlier. Foreign currency income generated by tourism fell by 19% over the first four months of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
Tourism Minister Mohamed Boussaid admitted that the crisis has slowed down the completion of part of the "Azur Plan", which includes the creation of a number of seaside resorts. The first resort just opened its doors on June 19th, but a number of delays have affected the completion of the resorts in Taghazout, Lixus, and Plage Blanche.
Despite the setbacks, tourism professionals and the government remain optimistic.
Boussaid said it is inappropriate to talk of a crisis, stating that the industry has performed well in light of the extent of the world crisis.
"True, receipts in the sector are down," he continued, "but there are a number of reasons... particularly shorter stays by tourists and reduced consumption."
He explained that the drop in overnight stays in hotels also owes to greater choice of accommodation types, quoting a ministry study from April 2009, which showed that 50% of tourists prefer to stay in guesthouses or apartments rather than hotel rooms.
Othman Cherif Alami, President of the National Tourism Federation, described the measures agreed upon in Saïda. He said the federation promised to design new marketing programmes to attract fresh business, to maintain jobs, and to set up an incentive system for employees.
Industry leaders in tourism signed an agreement with the government on June 9th to bolster the sector during the current crisis. The specific goal was to increase share in six priority markets (France, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and the Benelux countries) and maintain growth in the numbers of people coming into the country.
A budget of 300 million dirhams was set aside to promote Morocco as a destination and to develop the provision of air travel for tourists. Professionals pledged to contribute actively to the promotion of international and domestic tourism, to develop continuing education activities for staff, to safeguard jobs, and to adapt to the changing distribution channels in the main markets by stepping up their presence on the Internet.
The tourism minister also underlined his agency's determination to pursue the completion of major projects and to overhaul the hotel industry, particularly by increasing accommodation capacity and carrying out structural reform in tourism-based careers and legal and regulatory frameworks, and by restructuring the distribution sector.
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hassouna/saraha raha Posted 2009-06-23
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Moroccan Patriot Posted 2009-06-23
The problem with the tourism sector is Morocco is the same problem facing large corporations like Maroc Telecom: They do not value customers, they are inefficient and corruption is rampant. Customer service is non existent at most hotels. The policies that are instituted when it comes to complaints might as well come directly from a Maroc Telecom or Royal Air Maroc hand book.... basically the concept of treating customers/consumers with respect and appreciation is non existent. Ask anyone who has ever travelled to Egypt and they will tell you that the Egyptian experience is far superior. In Egypt you spend less than half the money and you are treated like gold. In Morocco, you spend almost as much as you would on vacation in Spain or Italy and the staff at hotels, restraunts and especially the airlines are rude, and do not have to worry about being held accountable for their behaviour because their managers are never at work and are themselves the shining example of ineptness and corruption the employees seek to emulate. Maroc Telecom rips off their customers by charging bogus roaming charges, and outright lying about the cost of services. Try going to their website to complain by sending an email... go ahead.. you can't. You can count on never recieving a response. How is vivendi explaining the continuing slide of Maroc Telecom Stock prices to its shareholders? After all Vivendi owns a 50% stake... then there is the 30% stake owned directly by Moroccan tax payers... but Maroc Telecom continues to rip off customers, provide incredibly shoddy service and then despite the highest profit margin in the industry on a per call basis (compared to telecoms in Europe/America) still manages to hide profits and practise nepotism in hiring the most inefficient managers.
wahd lfa9ir Posted 2009-06-23
I don't want any trouble. let's always be optimistic. Thank you.
Moroccan Patriot Posted 2009-06-25
Being a 5 star haute de gamme tourism destination requires alot more than charging an arm and a leg. It requires providing high quality service. RAM does not, by any stretch of the imagination offer even average quality service. If it were only RAM that was deficient in the quality of their services, I could understand the Tourism ministers unsubstantiated boasts.However, this is simply not the case. When you visit hotels in Morocco and want to make reservation for meeting halls, or multiple rooms, you can almost count on getting ripped off. Instead of getting lower prices or better service, you end up getting higher prices and worse service. As if that wasn't bad enough, finding the actual manager of a hotel is nigh impossible. If you go on a saturday or Sunday you can forget about actually even finding someone in charge who can even give you a price. Trying to get an online responce is just as unlikely, you can send an email and hope you get a response, and if you do eventually get a response, you can count on the price quote being significantly higher than what you would recieve by walking into the hotel and reserving a single room. You might think that I have just had poor experiences with Moroccan Hotels and RAM, but I have had extensive dealings with both. I have rented out over 100 hotel rooms in Morocco in the past 3 years in Morocco for various functions and have decided I will no longer rent out hotel rooms for my functions. Morocco is beautiful and boasts the most hospitable people on the planet; it is very unfortunate that those in charge of getting people to come experience this wonderful country have no Clue. We should make the bloated salary of the Ministry officials contingent on increasing tourism reciepts. They need to be held ACCOUNTABLE!
hasna/drafa Posted 2009-06-25
This is a beautiful article. Thank you. This is a very very very magnificent website.
abderahim Posted 2009-06-26
Salam alikum great Maghreb. Eliminating hackers who pirate the funds of the people without right. Let the Maghreb be effectively new. Salam. Thank you.
malcolm K Posted 2009-08-08
Well! Just as I and my wife are ready to embark on a project involving apartments and motel service overlooking a man made lake in my wifes home town of Fez, I read with amazement the articles above with particular reference to the Moroccan Patriate renting out as many as 100 rooms for his functions in the past and not happy now to carry on this proceedure. The whole idea of carrying out this project is not only to make use of the family home and involve my wifes humble and most hospitable family members, but to provide the best service in the area, thus alaying fears such that has been mentioned. Should the person concerned wish to comment or contact me, I should be happy to discuss this further.
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