Moroccan Tourism Minister Fatima Zahra Amour indicated that Morocco had incurred a loss of about 90 billion dirhams ($9.54 billion) in foreign tourism revenues in foreign currency, during the past two years due to the Corona pandemic.
She stressed that "the tourism sector was greatly affected by the Corona crisis, as the number of tourists coming to Morocco decreased by 79 percent in 2020 and 71 percent during the past year compared to 2019". She explained that "the size of the loss in terms of the number of tourist arrivals amounted to 20 million tourists in two years."
The Moroccan authorities had decided to reopen the airspace to air traffic, after two months of closure, due to fears of the spread of the Omicron mutant, the closure decision cast a shadow over Morocco's economy, and the tourism sector in particular, despite the urgent support program presented by the government last January, amounting to about two hundred million dollars, to mitigate the repercussions of Corona.
The government approved five measures, including extending the compensation payment of two thousand dirhams (214 dollars per month) during the first quarter of 2022 for the benefit of users of the tourism sector, tourism transport and classified restaurants. In addition to this, $110 million in hotel assistance and a postponement of contributions to the Social Security Fund for half a year.
Source (Al-Arab London Newspaper, Edited)
