A total of 42 airlines, including 4 new ones, will be operational in the Kingdom with the resumption of the activities of the sector scheduled for June 15, announced on Monday the director general of the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT), Adel El Fakir. The 42 companies will serve 43 countries, the official pointed out at a new edition of the “Tourism Marketing Days” (TMD), held under the theme “TMD Sky-Restart”, adding that the 4 new companies are Russian (S7 Airlines and Aeroflot), Israeli and African.
El Fakir recalled that 3.5 million seats are available between June 15 and September 30, which corresponds to nearly three quarters of the capacity offered during the same period in 2019. The TMD meeting is an opportunity to develop the strategy of the Office but also to federate the national and international partners, he said.
“We are completely ready and mobilized for the restart,” he said in this regard, calling on all partners to unity so that this revival will be as strong as possible. For his part, the president of the National Confederation of Tourism (CNT), Abdellatif Kabbaj, affirmed that the tourist demand is very strong, calling for the full mobilization of professionals so as to mitigate the impact of the health crisis on the sector.
He also welcomed efforts made by authorities throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to preserve the health of citizens. Hamid Bentahar, president of the Marrakech-Safi Regional Tourism Council and deputy president of the CNT, welcomed for his part the collective effort of all Moroccan citizens and the government from the start to manage the period of crisis, noting that the messages of the scientific committee are positive and very reassuring on the health part. “The vaccination campaign, which is progressing extremely well, is a very good demonstration of what Morocco is capable of doing in a period of crisis”, he said, calling on all the stakeholders to mobilize themselves to rebuild the markets and thus restart the tourism machine.
For his part, the president of the National Federation of the Hotel Industry (FNIH), Lahcen Zelmat, underlined that the authorities have well managed the health crisis which has affected the whole world, noting that with the announcement of the border opening set for June 15, 2021, tourism operators are already starting to see the end of the tunnel. Based on the positive indicators of the epidemiological situation in the Kingdom and the drop in the number of COVID-19 cases, in particular after the expansion of the vaccination campaign, the Moroccan authorities have decided to resume flights from and to the Kingdom from Tuesday, June 15.
