Lbe open to the honorable gentlemen,
-The Head of the Moroccan Government
-The Minister of the Interior of the Moroccan Government
Save the province of Ouarzazate
The voices of some Ouarzazate officials have recently been raised to express their dissatisfaction with the decline that the province of Ouarzazate is experiencing. Indeed, Imane Lamaoui, parliamentarian of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) of the Draa-Tafilalet region, asked a question during the oral question session on Monday July 4, 2022, concerning the decline of the tourist sector of Ouarzazate, a vital sector of the region’s economy in terms of wealth creation and job opportunities, especially for young people.
“I put in your hands a set of data reflecting the regression of the tourism sector in Ouarzazate since 2018, unlike all Moroccan cities that have recorded positive growth rates.
Thus in 2017, the destination of Ouarzazate recorded the second highest growth rate of overnight stays in Morocco, with an increase of +37%, which was more than double the growth rate recorded at the national level (+15%).
However, from 2018, Ouarzazate began to experience a real downturn year following year. Indeed, at a time when the Moroccan tourism sector recorded a growth rate of overnight stays of +5%, in 2019 compared to 2018, Ouarzazate experienced a drop of 2% while all other Moroccan destinations experienced growth. positive: +10% for Saidia, +8% for Tangier, +6% for Marrakech, etc.”, she indicated.
And to continue: “The decline that Ouarzazate began to experience from 2018 will be exacerbated by the pandemic, since Ouarzazate will be one of the most affected destinations in Morocco. Indeed, in 2020, Morocco recorded a drop of minus 78% while Ouarzazate recorded a drop of minus 83%.
In 2021, and although Morocco experienced a relative recovery as the number of arrivals increased from 2.8 million tourists in 2020 to 3.7 million tourists in 2021, an increase of 32%, Ouarzazate continued to fall and recorded a percentage of minus 8%.
In addition, the recovery that the tourism sector began to register at the beginning of 2022 in different Moroccan cities, excluded Ouarzazate which was only able to recover 14% until the end of April 2022 compared to the same period in 2019, which is the lowest recovery rate compared to other tourist destinations, which were able to reach higher percentages: 47% for Rabat, 46% for Tangier, 42% for Agadir, 36% for Casablanca and 33% for Marrakech.
Thus, the fate of the tourism sector will be catastrophic following the serial closure of several hotels during the current weeks, so that Ouarzazate has been living a nightmare since 2018.
I hope that special attention will be paid to this destination, which hosts the largest international film studios and the largest solar power plant, in order to prevent it from continuing to live this nightmare that it has endured for more than 5 years. “, she concluded.
By Zoubir BOUHOUTE
