In the aftermath of World Tourism Day, for us in Morocco, a little stopover is necessary, the time to find a place to revive this rather moribund activity since Dame Covid does not stop making her own.
Certainly, compared to March 2020 and the declared state of health emergency and its months of forced shutdown due to the pandemic, much water has flowed under the water and for the paradox, it is clear that today ‘hui more and more planes land in Morocco as if to signify a semblance of relaunch of tourism that we will say, timidly progressive.
Disastrous consequences of a health crisis
The sector, we are told, heads slightly out of the water. Not long ago, the country reopened its air borders to international flights. But for all that, let it be said, we are far, far from the situation before the advent of the pandemic. And for good reason, despite these upheavals if we can put it that way, everything needs to be rebuilt, not to say build in view of the inventory. We are therefore still awaiting an easing of the restrictions imposed which could restore vitality to a sector which has suffered the worst damage of all. During this health crisis, it alone caused our economy to falter. And for good reason, ” it represents nearly 12% of the GDP of which more than 4% is attributed to local tourism »Says Hamid Bentahar, the new president of the National Confederation of Tourism (CNT) requested by MoroccoLatestNews.fr.
The boss of the CNT just landed from a tour in the southern regions and between two trips, with kindness, wanted to give us a little interview with broken sticks. ” Tourism in Morocco is an open secret, is the most affected sector. He is in an extremely difficult situation. The whole ecosystem suffers, all sectors are affected, whether at the level of tourist carriers, hoteliers, guides, travel agencies, restaurateurs, event professionals, crafts … all are subject to the massive effects of this crisis. Indeed, this sector is practically the only one or among the few which still suffers the cost of the restrictions which continue to harm it ” our interlocutor will declare. Tourism occupies an important place in the Moroccan economy. International tourism receipts in 2019 generated $ 7.6 billion while domestic tourism alone brought in $ 4.5 billion in revenue.
The desperation of an affected sector
And add ” Despite an interesting start to the summer, there is now unanimity, the revival promised for 2021 has unfortunately been postponed. There are, however, some signals that may allow restrictive measures that would relieve the sector to be lifted. What is good is that health indicators are improving day by day, the work on vaccination is progressing and we can be proud of it for the health side, but that the urgency is in the lifting of restrictions. And Hamid Bentahar to detail the measures to be taken, “ we must strengthen air links, wait for an evolution of the categorization of the Kingdom, some countries still classify us in red despite health advances, communicate on the relaxation and the lifting of restrictions to maintain the desire to visit Morocco, allow tourists to dinner at the restaurant, at least with a health pass or a PCR test, if only for the organization of events (seminars, congresses, festivals …) especially at this time of year, it is a necessary business “.
On the other hand, continues our interlocutor, solutions that have been formulated by professionals must be put in place to put all ecosystems back to work. These are responsible, civic and necessary solutions. We have already sent them to the CGE to save jobs to allow tourism players to save jobs so that they can get back to work as well as possible as quickly as possible.
For the CNT, the urgency of a roadmap
For the boss of the CNT, “These are concrete solutions for the very short term, for safeguarding and resilience, they are also social measures, in particular the provocation of the lump-sum indemnity falling within the framework of the program contract that professionals demand at least until at the end of the year because we know that today the recovery is postponed. These are also solutions for companies at least on the tax part that must be reviewed and also banking measures, because we do not see how operators will be able to restart and get back on track (pay salaries and other devices relating to proper functioning and management) “.
As you will have understood, the CNT has no other ambitions than to carry out these steps between the departments concerned Tourism, Finance or even the General Directorate of local authorities for the postponement of the payment of local taxes and professional tax. The implementation of a recovery plan is also requested, but above all the signing of a new program contract for the period 2022-2024. These are many priorities for objectives which are altogether logical and necessary to save soldier T, which the very new team, newly made up of the CNT and headed by Hamid Bentahar, has set for itself.. The latter will tell us by way of conclusion ” We have enormous hopes on the new government to take quick measures to save and create jobs, to integrate the informal sector in view of the enormous potentials and very appreciable fundamentals that abound in the Kingdom “.
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