Marrakech is gradually recovering its air traffic
The month of June will be a very busy month for tourism in Marrakech. Hotels are almost full while two luxury hotels are simply privatized for the needs of a wedding. It must also be said that the June calendar is well stocked with an important animation. These are the Laughter Festival, 12 concerts of Gnaoua as part of the Gnaoua Festival Tour, and exhibitions in all the museums and galleries of the city, not to mention the Science Week which is held at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
These are the fruits of the reopening of air borders by the Moroccan authorities but also of the cancellation of the obligation to take a PCR test. Since February 7, the date of the resumption of air traffic, reservations have been raining on Marrakech. The month of April ended with an average occupancy rate (O.R.) of 45% according to the Regional Hospitality Industry Association. And while waiting for final statistics, hoteliers probably did much better during the month of May. Some hotels closed the month of May with an 80% occupancy rate. As usual, it is the weekends that attract the most domestic tourists. On the international scene, Marrakech recovered 71% of its airport movements compared to 2019, the reference year, and recovered 63% of its passengers. Moreover, the Moroccan airports authority (ONDA) forecasts estimate that 2022 will end with 4 million passengers coming to Marrakech by plane. Indeed, new routes are being opened, such as Edinburgh operated by Ryanair UK, Rome Fiumicino by Wizz Air Hungary, Madeira by Binter, and Alicante and Limoges by Ryanair Ltd… Even if 100% of the capacity of 2019 is reached again, these capacities will remain insufficient for a city like Marrakech whose bed infrastructure is very developed (80,000 beds and 1,200 guest houses), says, for his part, Hamid Bentahar, president of the Regional Council of Tourism (CRT) for the Marrakech / Safi region.
“It is mechanical. The more seats there are, the more hotels will be able to increase their average occupancy rate, and the more investments there will be, the more jobs there will be”, insists the professional. As a reminder, the “Ocher City” (as Marrakech is nicknamed) recorded nearly 8 million overnight stays in 2019, the reference year, with an occupancy rate of 61%. The actors of the Marrakech tourism industry were working at that time to set the bar higher and achieve an occupancy rate of 70%. Unfortunately, the consequences of Covid have been fatal for the sector for the past two years. “But the ambitions are still the same”, says Bentahar.
Badra BERRISSOULE
