If the effects of the pandemic are already a distant memory for most operators of major Moroccan destinations, Ouarzazate is experiencing a structural crisis which is getting worse year on year, with a tourism sector struggling to regain the same record level of activity as 2017.
“A level of activity close to that of the 1980s”
“After five chaotic years, our destination is still suffering, and increasingly, from air and road isolation, scarce investments, increasing hotel closures, and insufficient promotion at the international”, summarizes Zouhir Bouhout recalling that the past year has seen a drop of around 60% in the volume of arrivals and overnight stays recorded in 2019.
A situation that has led to the closure of five classified hotels over the past three years and about twenty since 2012, i.e. a 50% drop in its accommodation capacity in a decade. To date, the city has only twenty establishments with an estimated capacity of 2,500 beds compared to more than 5,000 in 2011.
Claiming to be realistic, the director of the Provincial Tourism Council declares that the tourist activity of his city has literally collapsed since 2018, with a level close to that of the 1980s, a decline of about forty years.
A “tumble” before the pandemic
“Thus for the first ten months of 2022, the recovery rate of the number of overnight stays compared to the same period of 2019 stood at 34% for Ouarzazate, i.e. less than half of the 73% achieved at the national level”, describes the manager.
In terms of customers, the collapse was generalized according to the same source, affecting all the main foreign issuing markets (market French : 62% ; Italy : 66% ; Spanish : 75% ; English : 79% ; German : 88%).
If the health crisis has not helped, the “tumble” actually started two years before the start of the pandemic, with a growth rate of overnight stays falling from 37% in 2017 to 4% in 2018, when it was 8% nationally.
A situation that continued to worsen in 2019, with a drop of 8% compared to 2018, when the national growth rate was 5%.
While it occupied the first national place in terms of growth in overnight stays in 2017, Ouarzazate therefore became, according to him, a “disaster zone” a year before the advent of the pandemic in March 2020.
And the situation has only gotten worse since then.
A vital opening up
“During the last three years, the air isolation has continued to worsen. The year 2022 recorded a recovery rate of passenger air traffic of 51% compared to the year 2019 (i.e. before the crisis, editor’s note)against 82% at the national level”, advances Zouhir Bouhoute, citing the latest figures from ONDA.
“This is the lowest rate of the three airports in the region (102% for Errachidia and 61% for Zagora)” he adds.
Between the lack of air connectivity, the low attractiveness of investments, the serial closure of hotel establishments and the decline in cinematographic activity, “the city is experiencing an unprecedented crisis”, while all the major tourist destinations are finding even begin to exceed 2019 levels.
“The drop in arrivals has indeed led to a drastic reduction in the city’s accommodation capacity, now unable to accommodate certain foreign shoots which prefer other countries. To reverse this trend, it is therefore necessary to strengthen the airline offer and find the means to restart the five hotels closed by CDG and CIH”, recommends Zouhir Bouhoute who hopes that the ministerial roadmap will take into account the priorities necessary for the development of the tourism sector.
Pessimistic, the director of the CPT maintains that without financial efforts from the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) to make up for the current lack of air connectivity, and from the Moroccan Society for Tourism Engineering (SMIT) to attract hotel investments, the destination of Ouarzazate will not return to the level of arrivals or overnight stays of 2017 within the next five years.