Record year for Morocco tourism with 13 million visitors
Tourism accounts for about 10% of GDP and is one of the country's main sources of foreign currency.
Marrakesh, Morocco. Picture: iStock
A record 13 million tourists visited Morocco in 2019, up 5.2% from the previous year, official figures showed Wednesday.
The number includes Moroccans from the diaspora, who account for around half of visitors annually.
Tourism revenues hit 78.6 billion dirhams ($8.16 billion) in 2019, up from 73.04 billion dirhams ($7.58 billion) the year before, the Moroccan Tourism Observatory said.
It attributed the rise — for the first crossing the 12-million mark — to its primary markets, France and Spain.
The North African country has benefitted from increased air links, with low-cost carriers launching new routes to Europe.
The former imperial city of Marrakesh, with its Unesco-listed Old Town, and Agadir on the coast together accounted for 57% of the 25.2 million hotel stays last year, the Observatory said.
Tourism accounts for about 10% of GDP and is one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency, alongside exports and remittances from Moroccans working abroad.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
For more news your way
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
