INTERNATIONAL TOURISM EXPENDITURES
In 1999, 45 countries recorded each more than US$ 1 billion in
international tourism expenditure (WTO, 2000) with the big industrial powers
clearly in the lead. The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan
toping the list with spending ranging from US$ 29 billion to US$ 56 billion per
year. Those countries represent over one-third of total international tourism
expenditure.
According to a study by the World Travel and Tourism Council
(WTTC), travel and tourism is the world's largest industry directly or
indirectly driving more than 10% of global jobs, GDP, and investment.
In an increasingly global society, the economic and social
contribution of this industry to the world is highly significant and continues
to grow.
International aviation is the prime engine of travel and
tourism, which presently contributes more than USD 3,500 billion to the world
economy, or nearly 12 percent of the total. More than 192 million jobs are
generated, 8% of the world total. Capital investment for travel and tourism is
at present US$ 733
billion a year. This represents more than 11 percent of the world
total (IATA, 2000).
MOROCCO DESTINATION OVERVIEW
Destination Positioning
Morocco is roughly comparable in size, geography and climate to
California, with a population of 35 millions. Morocco is a unique country. The
destination holds an unquestionable differentiating advantage with a product
that has a strong cultural content and incomparable geographical diversity,
which brings big potential to seaside Atlantic coast beaches, mountains and
inland Sahara desert adventure tourism that is enjoyable all year long. Given
the product attributes of Morocco as a destination and the characteristics and
trends of International Tourism that is leaning toward cultural discovery and
adventure, the destination holds a potentially promising future.
Market Share
Morocco repre sent a very small portion of this huge business
with less than 0.6% of the International tourism flow or 4.1 millions
international visitors annually generating $2.8 billions total revenue (Source:
WTO 2001). European Union members (France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Benelux and
Great Britain generate nearly 70% of inbound travel to Morocco. North America
outbound
tourism to Morocco reaches a mere 5%. The Middle East and North
East Asia also generate almost 5% of total arrivals. Total airborne
International arrivals represent 66%. According to the Ministry of Tourism,
tourism sector contributed in 1999, to 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
generating 600,000 (direct and indirect) jobs.
Competition and Potential Development
Direct competitive destinations to Morocco are those with similar
tourism products content with strong cultural and adventures attributes in the
perimeter of the Mediterranean Sea. Such Destinations are Turkey, Egypt,
Israel, Tunisia, Portugal, Spain and South Africa that is part of the African
continent. However new entrants from South East Asia region are more and more
direct competitors despite their distances from the European world biggest
outbound market. Those countries are represented by Thailand, Malaysia and most
recently aggressive destinations such as Vietnam and Cambodia.
Traditional competitors such as Egypt and Turkey have
accomplished tremendous progress by developing a strong tourism industry in the
last decade. Morocco despite being an earlier entrant in new developing
countries destinations lagged behind because of lack of strategic vision and
planning. The country slipped from a 25th position in International
Arrivals in 1990 to 37th
rank in 1999. The tourism industry suffered a structural crisis
leading to insufficient lodging capacity and deteriorating infrastructure and
quality product. In 1999 effective lodging capacity was reaching a mere 70,000
beds in total. At the same time Egypt and Tunisia lodging capacity were set to
140,000 and 180,000 respectively. However Morocco destination is recovering
from the structural crisis and a jointly public-private sector initiative
identified major red tapes that have to be eliminated as well as fiscal
incentives to apply for a successful tourism development policy. Actions have
already been taken to attract foreign investment, while numerous major
infrastructure projects are being launched. Morocco destination should be able
to attract 10 million international tourists by 2010, thus becoming one of the
major Mediterranean tourism destinations.
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