An expanded working meeting intended to present the main lines of the strategic roadmap at the national level for the tourism sector for the period 2023-2026 and the means mobilized for its efficient implementation, was held on Friday. in Marrakech, in the presence of an assembly of institutional actors, managers, elected officials, professionals and partners concerned.
Chaired by the Minister of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, this meeting is the first stage of a regional tour, an opportunity to meet all the stakeholders to discuss and exchange around the general context and the many axes and objectives of this national tourism roadmap.
In a speech for the occasion, Ms. Ammor expressed her joy at starting this regional tour through the Marrakech-Safi region, which is by no means a coincidence, given that Marrakech “constitutes a fundamental component of tourism in Morocco”, before to give an overview of the contours of this roadmap in terms of quantified ambitions, tourist offer and cross-functional levers.
This is a roadmap that should “allow us to transform the tourism sector and achieve a qualitative and quantitative leap”, she said.
After expressing her thanks to all the regional actors who participated in its development, she underlined the essential role that the Marrakech-Safi region will play in this new vision, given its enormous tourist potential in urban areas and in the hinterland.
For the Minister, tourism remains a cross-cutting sector, hence the importance of mobilizing all stakeholders in creating an irreproachable tourist experience and achieving the ambitions set for the region.
In this context, the Wilaya and local authorities will play a steering role through the Commission for monitoring regional plans as well as support in the implementation of locomotive projects and prerequisites for the development of sectors.
They will also participate in the work of the Impulse Laboratories in charge of developing the tourist sectors as well as in the Regional Animation Structures.
Ms. Ammor also recalled the importance of construction sites for which the role of local authorities is decisive in the tourist experience, namely regulations, simplification of procedures and authorizations, mobilization of land, control, cleanliness, etc. .. etc.
The regional councils and the local authorities, for their part, will be essential partners for the establishment of the prerequisites for the development of the sectors necessary for the launch of the identified projects and the locomotive projects, indicated the Minister.
Is to conclude by highlighting the importance for the stakeholders to commit together and to work, hand in hand, in order to accompany this positive dynamic and to succeed in this bet, able to make it possible to strengthen the weight of tourism in the socio-economic inclusion of the Marrakech-Safi region.
In figures, the ambition through this national strategic roadmap for tourism 2023-2026, is to reach 17.5 million tourists in 2026, which should generate 120 billion DH in foreign currency revenue and create some 200,000 direct and indirect jobs.
For his part, the wali of the Marrakech-Safi region, governor of the prefecture of Marrakech, Karim Kassi-Lahlou, described this roadmap as a “qualitative and quantitative leap”, capable of repositioning tourism as a key sector. of the national economy, noting that this roadmap plans to transform the tourism sector by emphasizing the customer experience, developing new thematic and cross-cutting offers, doubling air capacity and strengthening the promotion and marketing, especially through digital.
In this sense, he did not fail to recall that the Marrakech-Safi region, rich in its human potential and its cultural and natural heritage, is at the heart of this dynamic and will play a leading role in achieving these objectives.
Mr. Kassi-Lahlou also expressed his conviction that with the will of all partners, it will be possible to sustainably establish the Marrakech brand even higher in the international ranks as a leading tourist destination.
In his eyes, “this positioning is consolidated by the dynamics of tourist development experienced by all the poles of the Marrakech-Safi region, reinventing thanks to its new Regional Development Plan which has given an important place to the tourist sector, to through a set of projects developed by the Regional Council as part of a participatory approach with professionals and other stakeholders”.
And to continue that with the pioneer operators of tourism at the regional level, the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) and the new programs put in place by the public authorities have also made it possible to support a new generation of projects and reveal new ideas by strengthening the desirability of the territory and inserting young people into the economic fabric.