An influx of members of the Moroccan community abroad earlier this year contributed to record revenues of over AED8.2 billion in a single month.
Those hard-currency earnings represent an increase of about 628.4 percent from last year when borders were closed, according to figures released by the Economy and Finance Ministry in a March note on circumstances.
Last year, these revenues fell by 56 percent, and in 2021 by 61.9 percent in light of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting border closures.
Last January, the Kingdom received 899,000 tourists from abroad, up 13.6%. These figures were driven by foreign delegations with an increase of about 45.4 percent, which softened the decline in the number of foreign tourists by about 7.2 percent.
The number of overnight stays recorded in the first month of the current year was 1.6 million nights in classified accommodation establishments compared to 302 thousand in 2022, 407 thousand in January 2021, about 1.7 million nights in 2020 and 1.5 million nights in 2019
Taking into account the role of the tourism sector in the national economy, the government signed a framework agreement to implement a strategic roadmap for 2023-2026 aimed at attracting 17.5 million tourists and achieving foreign exchange earnings of about 120 billion dirhams. .
This ambitious plan, announced by the government in March this year with AED 6.1 billion in funding, aims to create around 80,000 direct and 120,000 indirect jobs and make the sector an important player in the national economy.
Nearly 11 million tourists visited Morocco last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Tourism, representing an 84% recovery in inbound tourism traffic in 2019 compared to a global figure of 63%.
