Morocco closed 2014 with about 10.4 million foreign tourists, 3% more than in the previous year. The Tourism sector has recorded a strong increase in the months of January and September, up 10%, but in the last quarter decline due to the fall of French traveler, their first source market.
Morocco receives two million Spanish tourists, mainly from Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia, but aim to increase the presence of citizens from other regions. For this reason, they have developed a plan to work more in other geographic areas as Basque Country, Galicia, Asturias and Aragon, which will increase the promotion and also hope to increase the number of flights. At the same time, they try to boost maritime routes, taking advantage of the proximity between the two countries and impulse to travel by car. Some 400,000 Moroccans travel each summer to Spain, especially in Costa del Sol, and the vast majority drive their own car, while very few Spaniards traveling and the North African country by car.
Tourism is the second most important sector for the economy of Morocco, after agriculture. Contributes 8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the government’s goal is to raise it. So it has designed an ambitious growth plan, called Vision 2020, which aims to double the number of hotel beds – there are now 220,000 – and reach 18 million foreign visitors in that year. This project is a continuation of the Vision 2010 plan, whose aim was to achieve 10 million international visitors in that time.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Tourism said that the department would work with the Ministry of Industry of Spain to boost long distance travel packages. The aim would be tourists from Latin America and China visit both countries.
