Tourist arrivals in Morocco up by 21%

Rabat, July 11 (IANS) Morocco registered 6.5 million tourist arrivals in the first six months of 2023, surpassing the pre-pandemic level in 2019 by 21 per cent, the Ministry of Tourism said.

In June, the volume of arrivals reached almost 1.4 million, a 25 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2019, it said.

Among the tourists, those from Spain were up by 79 per cent, followed by Britain, 23 per cent, and Portugal 16 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

The sector's revenue soared to $4.1 billion in the first five months this year, up by 42 per cent year-on-year from 2019, the Ministry added.

Tourism is a key sector in the Moroccan economy, directly contributing 7.1 per cent of the total GDP in 2019 and providing an estimated 565,000 jobs, equivalent to 5 per cent of total employment.