1. The Kingdom of Morocco Attractiveness and Potentialities
H.E. Mr. Abdelkader LECHEHEB
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Russian Federation
Moscow, April, 28, 2010

2. 1- Country profile
2- Importance of the tourism sector for the country
3- Moroccan tourism assets
Tourism Vision
5- Importance of Russia to Moroccan tourism

3. 1-Country Profile LOCATION: NORTH WEST OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
Area : KM²
POPULATION : 30 MILLION
URBAN POPULATION : 56%
CAPITAL CITY: RABAT
French&English: used by Business community
CURRENCY: DIRHAM RUR1= 0.25DH

4. Geography and Climate - Fertile plains - Desert
Geographical diversity:
- Mountain chains
- Fertile plains
- Desert
Climate:
- Temperate climate in the Mediterranean area (8°C-27°C)
-Saharan climate in the south (3°C-50°C)

5. History of Morocco Berbers first inhabitants of Morocco
Phoenicians had established a maritime trading posts in Morocco from the 12 century BC
Romans had been also established in Morocco: Volubilis Roman Archeological site near Meknes (World heritage)
Arabs from the 7th century
               

6. 2 - Importance of the tourism sector for the economy of the country
9% of the Morocco’s GDP
Direct and indirect jobs:
Important source of foreign currency

7. Some data for the year 2009 Inbound tourists: more than 9 million
Despite the crisis increase of 7% in the number of tourists and 16% in overnight stays
16.2 million of overnight stays/13.2 million in 2004
Europe is a main tourist market for Morocco. Russia: in average 30,000 visitors/year

8. 3-Moroccan Tourism Assets
2009: more than 9 million tourists
Easy access to the country from major European capitals
Long and rich cultural history
Diversity of landscapes: the visitor of Morocco can travel from snow peaks to the Saharan desert in a single day
Casablanca
Flights per week
Flight duration
Paris 35
2:40
London 14
3:00
Milan
Madrid
1:15
Frankfurt 11
New York 10
6:00
Moscow -
5:30

9. Moroccan Tourism Assets
Morocco has a considerable tourism assets making the country one of the most diversified tourism destination in the world
- Seaside resorts
- Cultural tourism
- Sport tourism
- Mountain tourism

10. Attractiveness of Morocco
Many famous artists and writers were fascinated by Morocco: Matisse, Delacroix, etc
Because of its natural beauties, Morocco has attracted many filmmakers
Russian TV channels are more and more interested to shoot documentaries about Morocco

11. Seaside Resorts
Morocco has 2 costline on the medi and the Atlantic ocean: 3500 km of coastline
Main element of the Morocco tourism industry
Attract most of the tourists from Europe
New resorts has been identified in the 2010 Vision (Azur Plan)

12. Some of the Seaside Resorts projected in the Azur Plan
Saidia: on the Mediterranean cost, paseo maritimo of 6 km
Expected capacity: 28,000 beds, 3 golf courses
Khemis Sahel: on the Atlantic Ocean at the foot of the archeological site of Lixus
Expected capacity: 11,860 beds, 2 golf courses
El Haouzia(Mazagan): 80 km far from Casablanca (Economic capital of Morocco)
8,000 beds, 2 golf courses and many facilities for mater activities
Mogador: 4 km far from city of Essaouira listed world heritage
10,580 beds, 3golf courses and many other facilities

13. Cultural Tourism (1)
Cultural tourism is becoming one of the most attraction for foreign tourist to learn about the history and the art of the country
Imperial cities (Fez, Meknes, Marrakesh and Rabat): almost half of the total arrivals of foreign tourist in the country
Morocco has curently 7 world heritage sites:
1-Medina of Fez 2-Medina of Marrakesh
3-Ksar Ait Ben Haddou 4-Historic City of Meknes
5-Archeological Site of Volubilis 6-Medina of Tetouan
7-Medina of Essaouira

14. Cultural Tourism (2) Handicrafts
Traitionnal festivals: Rose Festival, Sacred Music Festival, Weedings Festival, etc)
Museums
Gastronomy
Recently Morocco has encouraged the restoration of the “ryads” traditionnal guest houses with gorgeous architecture and design

15. Rural Tourism
Morocco has natural assets regarding this kind of tourism: diversity of scenarios: From the north of the country, mountain chains to the Sahara in the south
Morocco has been developing this niche, which include: climbing, hiking, skiing

16. Sport tourism
In Morocco visitors can enjoy a large number of water sports: surfing, wind surfing, yachting fishig, etc
Other kind of sports are developed in Morocco: golf (20 golf courses, and many others are projected in the 2010 Tourism Vision), tennis, horse-riding,etc

17. 4-2010 Tourism Vision in Morocco (1)
The project has been launched in 2001
Main objectives: to welcome 10 million tourist by 2010
Outline of the Project
- Improving the infrastructures:
Triplicate the number of hotel rooms from 80,000 to 240,000

18. 2010 Tourism Vision in Morocco (2)
-Six major new coastal resorts to be developed
-1,000 km of new roads to be constructed
-600,000 new jobs to be created
- Improving the professional qualification and the training of the staff:
75,000 young Moroccan will undergo formal training in the hospitality sector

19. 5-Importance of Russia to Moroccan tourism
Tourism agreement
Opening of the representation of the Moroccan National Tourist Office in Moscow
Opening of the direct flight Moscow – Casablanca
Moroccan strategy towards Russian market

20. Thank you for your kind attention