2023-10-13 16:13:42
A few weeks after the devastating Al-Haouz earthquake, Morocco hosted the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Marrakech. Opportunity for its authorities to congratulate themselves on good figures in the tourism sector.
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The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are being held in Marrakech until October 15. Morocco has experienced very difficult times due to a devastating earthquake. However, he is determined to move forward with tourism, his driving force and the future holds exciting challenges as he will co-host the 2030 World Cup.
IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech
This is only the second time that an African country has hosted the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The event attracted more than 10,000 people to Marrakech. After the Al-Haouz earthquake in early September, the two institutions, after thinking about another place, decided to show their confidence in the country. Way to stand alongside the Moroccan people who have shown resilience in the face of tragedy.
“What we have seen over the last four weeks shows that the authorities and civil society in Morocco have been able to rebuild very quickly and this is something we also wanted to highlight during these annual meetings,” Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, told Euronews. “We had the opportunity to visit the affected area and it is very impressive: we saw students returning to schools, in different ways, but they are studying again,” he explained.
Tourist attendance up in September year-on-year
Morocco is one of the world’s leading tourist destinations. In 2022, the country welcomed around eleven million visitors. Nearly 550,000 people are directly employed in this sector, or 15% of the active population.
Fears that the earthquake would interrupt the influx of tourists proved false. Thus, more than 960,000 visited the country in September 2023, a figure up remarkably by 7% compared to the same month last year.
“It is essential to let the whole world know that the situation is more than under control and that we have returned to normal life,” underlined Fatim-Zahra Ammor, Moroccan Minister of Tourism, during assemblies. “Regarding arrivals,” she continued, “We looked at the bookings and the cancellations and, frankly, we did well.”
“What’s also great is that tourists who were in Morocco at that time started sharing their testimonies about the real situation on social media: which helped us a lot to get the word out about what was really happening in Marrakech,” she estimated.
Ambitions for the Football World Cup in 2030
The Moroccan authorities see in the increase in the number of visitors a mark of confidence which also shows the effectiveness of their immediate response after the earthquake.
The country hopes to further increase its tourist numbers by 2030, when it will host the Football World Cup, alongside Spain and Portugal. “We believe the future is bright for tourism in Morocco,” said Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor. “We have a strong vision which consists of doubling the number of tourists in Morocco by 2030, to reach around 26 million visitors,” she clarified. “We are reorienting our offer around experiences that travelers can have, linked to the beach and the sun, the ocean waves, culture or gastronomy, so the offer is built around experiences rather than destinations,” she pointed out.
Future hotel spinoffs
The annual meetings have given a strong boost to the Marrakech hotel industry. In addition to the large hotels, the city is famous for its riads. These are multi-storey houses built around a courtyard with a fountain, which belonged to the wealthiest residents and merchants. Many of them have now been transformed into charming hotels.
“This week, we received a lot of tourists who came for these conferences: which gives us momentum for our economic development,” welcomed Wadia Bejouj, manager of a riad.“There are many events that Morocco will organize in the future and I am sure that there will be more hotels that can accommodate all the events, especially the 2030 World Cup,” he said.
A cultural offering that appeals
To date, Morocco has welcomed 11.1 million tourists since the start of the year, already exceeding the annual attendance for 2022.
This result is not surprising because Marrakech in October has many visitors, including hundreds who stroll through the souks like Anne, crossed in the alleys.
"My mother told me it was the most beautiful country she had ever visited, so I had to come see for myself," she told Euronews. “It’s beautiful, I’ve only been there for a day: we landed in Fez and went straight to Casablanca to a beautiful restaurant with belly dancers and live music, then we came [à Marrakech] Today,” she said before concluding: “It’s lively, it’s alive, it smells good, I love this place, it’s really great!”
British tourist, Christina said: “People were very welcoming as soon as we arrived, they helped us, they explained everything to us. The food is delicious, the whole culture is so different from the European way of life, but so fascinating, enjoyable,” she estimated.
Climate change is also a major concern for Morocco. He is working to reflect this in tourism as he implements his plan that will shape the future of this sector for decades to come.
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