The Moroccan tourism clientele composed of Moroccans Living Abroad (MRE) continues to contend for the first place in terms of the number of arrivals into the country. In March of this year, MREs represented 38% of all arrivals despite a 2.5% decrease relative to the same period in 2016. In March, the country reported a 3.7% increase in the number of tourists (762 562 visitors).
Furthermore, as a tourist destination, Morocco has a newfound popularity for the French market. As a matter of fact, the 3.7% increase in the overall number of visitors recorded during the month of March was in part due to French visitors whose amount rose by 6%.
However, it is American tourists (+24%) which has been most responsible for bolstering the volume of arrivals. The number of Dutch tourists also went up – by 4%. In contrast, the arrivals from Spain, Belgium and Germany decreased by 8%, 3% and 2% respectively.
Overall, the upwards progression of Moroccan tourism with respect to the number of arrivals translated into an increase in the number of nights spent in registered lodging establishments. In this way, the number of nights spent was established to have been 1.7 million, a number which has increased by +18.1% with respect to March 2016. This increase was due to both non-resident tourists (+19.1%) as well as domestic travelers (+15.4%).
The average occupancy rate of registered lodging establishments increased by 44% - a five points increase over the month of March 2016, according to the Moroccan tourism ministry.
However, it should be noted that the positive trend brought profits only to several of Morocco's traditional tourist destinations - +25% to Fes, +22% to Marrakech and Casablanca, +21% to Tangier and Rabat and +20% to Agadir. The tourism revenue of the country dropped by 5.6% as compared to March 2016, reaching a total of 4.7 billion dirhams.
