As part of the “Vision 2020” for tourism, Morocco had displayed its ambition to place sustainable tourism at the heart of its strategy. The objective is to position Morocco as a sustainable destination. To support this desire, several actions have been undertaken by Morocco in favor of sustainable tourism, not without challenges and opportunities to integrate it into the objectives of sustainable development.
In an article published in the International Review on Optimization and Applications (IJOA), researcher Fadwa Chbani Idrissi, from the Laboratory of Studies on Resources, Mobility and Attractiveness (LERMA) of Cadi Ayyad University, is interested in that question. It established a benchmark of the actions implemented, in this direction, by the department in charge of Tourism.
His article also cites several actions, including the study of the climate impact of the tourism sector in the city of Marrakech, launched in 2017 by the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the UNDP, in order to develop nationally appropriate mitigation. The same source also cites the implementation of the new law 80-14, the launch of the Sustainable Tourism Trophies in 2008, the Moroccan Day of Sustainable and Responsible Tourism as well as the Moroccan Charter for Sustainable Tourism. She also evokes the participation of the department in charge of Tourism in COP 22 through a series of activities.
For the researcher, “all the actions” mentioned testify to “the will of all the actors” to place Morocco as a “sustainable destination”. However, this desire “is limited to one-off actions linked to national and international events and which fall within awareness-raising and promotion and fall within a non-binding and voluntary framework”.
Sustainable tourism must “move from its strategic aspect to its concrete aspect”
It is inspired, moreover, by the guide drawn up by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with UNEP, suggesting that its orientations can be “real objectives for the Moroccan strategy of sustainable tourism”. The researcher proposes, in this sense, to “synchronize the different strategies (urban planning, classification of tourist establishments, specifications for tourist transport, etc.) to put in place regulatory instruments and authorization procedures including provisions mandatory for tourism investments and operations”. It recommends “putting in place processes to monitor compliance with regulatory requirements” and “measuring sustainable production in the tourism sector by means of monitoring indicators”.
It also proposes to “establish financial support instruments that provide specific financial assistance to influence behavior and encourage change along the tourism value chain”. In her article, Fadwa Chbani Idrissi also pleads for the implementation of Law 80-14, a development and implementation of sustainable tourism policy in Morocco that “fits within the framework of the objectives of sustainable development”. .
The researcher provides, moreover, a criticism of the Moroccan Charter for Sustainable Tourism, which she considers as an “ambition and not a concrete action”. It underlines, in this sense, that it “is part of a voluntary approach by all the actors and does not constitute an obligation”. “A follow-up of all these actions is highly desirable in order to measure their impact on the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social)”, she believes.
“To implement all the challenges, sustainable tourism in Morocco must be considered in a systemic approach within the framework of a global approach that includes all the actors to, on the one hand, move it from its very ambitious strategic aspect to its concrete aspect, which remains very modest at present, and on the other hand, to increase the chances of its contribution to the achievement of the SDGs”, she concludes.