More tourists chose to travel to Morocco in 2009
Morocco experienced a 6% increase in its number of tourism arrivals in 2009, reports the Nam News Network.
According to tourism minister Yassir Znagui, 8.3 million tourists visited the country in 2009. However, despite the increase in numbers, visitors were spending less than in previous years with a 5.7% decline in the amount of tourism receipts.
Plans were announced in the early noughties for the country to attract 10 million tourists a year by 2010 as part of King Mohammed VI's Vision 2010 programme.
Tourism brought a significant amount of money into the Moroccan economy last year. The sector contributed 9% to gross domestic product and created over 8,000 job opportunities.
New developments added 13,000 new beds to the country's accommodation market, with 40% of these being located around the tourist centre of Marrakech.
2009 also saw the introduction of new European Union rules which reduced the amount of air duty being paid by tourists travelling to Morocco from European countries. The changes will mean a reduction of almost £30 on flight prices and is predicted to have a positive effect on the number of people choosing Morocco as a short haul destination.
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