The supervisory authority recently launched work on the sector’s new roadmap, with the aim of integrating a strong public-private partnership and relays at the territorial level, with a view to strengthening the recovery dynamic observed and indirectly accelerate the pace of performance recovery in 2019.
Moreover, the Minister of Tourism Fatim-Zahra Ammor had announced, in this sense, that an attack plan has already been put in place to increase short-term air capacities to the Kingdom, with a view to promote the destination to tour operators and strengthen its reputation among international tourists.
It is also a question of strengthening air transport through the increase in capacity and the multiplication of point-to-point flights, the alignment of the tourist offer with national and international demand as well as the stimulation of investment. public/private around priority levers including entertainment and ecotourism, with an overall objective of reaching 26 million targeted tourists by 2030.
The winter season in sight
On the eve of the winter season, and contrary to the last two years, operators in the sector seem to be smiling once more and are reactivating now, able to allow the launch of a winter season, to say the least that we can say “promising “.
And this is Hamid. B, manager of a 5-star hotel in Marrakech who confirms this. According to him, the dynamic experienced by the Moroccan tourism sector this summer has revived hope among the various players in the sector, who are now more than optimistic for the winter season.
When asked how this season was, he said that the ocher city is undoubtedly the favorite destination for foreign tourists, especially in winter.
“So there will definitely be a high demand for this season. On our side, the preparations have just started, but we need to be accompanied, “he said.
“The only apprehension we are facing at the moment, continued this professional, is that of the specter of inflationary pressures which continue to hover over the prices of plane tickets which might, perhaps, impact the number of tourists. international”.
He also affirmed that the distinctive elements characterizing this season, including in particular the reduction in the number of hours of sunshine, the cold and the snow, are essential to take into account when approaching winter tourism, noting to this end, that the perception of winter on the part of citizens and transport all have an impact on the development and development of tourism during the winter season, but above all on the decisions taken by the players in the sector to prepare for this season.
On the side of the Middle Atlas, Halima, manager of a hostel in Ifrane stressed that its structure is full each winter season thanks to the diversity and richness of the potentialities and tourist resources available to this province and which allows this destination to offer diverse tourist products adapted to the different expectations of visitors and tourists.
After recalling that winter is an essential component of what characterizes the city of Ifrane, Halima noted that the season does not start when the tourists arrive… “It’s long before success or failure is decided. “. Dealing with an influx of customers means preparing to serve them, satisfying them, having the stock, the personnel, ready and trained, having the funds, ready to be invested and managed,” said she observes.
“More concretely, to encourage customers during this period, we are setting up very attractive booking offers with no refund on cancellations until the last two days of the arrival date. As a result, we can say that 100% of cancellations for the winter season will not be refunded to us,” said the manager, whose hostel has been in operation since 1998.
And to maintain that with 70% of winter nights, the winter holidays are by far the period that weighs the most in terms of tourist attendance for this region, especially for ski fanatics.
In short, the winter tourist season is a whole host of small challenges to be met, hence the need to know your industry, its local specificities, its clientele, in addition to adapting to the economic conditions of the moment in order to the ambition of an accelerated return to the usual levels, known to the sector.
MAP / Samia Boufous
