Morocco hopes to render Russian tour flow to 2 million people

Moroccan travel authorities aim to increase the inbound tourist flow from Russia up to 2 million people by 2020. This was announced by the General Director of the country's tourist office, Hamid Addu, at a press conference held within the framework of MITT-2012 travel trade fair in Moscow. According to him, last year the authorities planned to welcome 50 thousand Russian tourists, but the number of tourists in the end resulted to be about 30 thousand.

Mr. Addu admitted that 2011 was quite difficult because of the many revolutions, including those in Tunisia and Egypt, plus the economic crisis in Europe. These events affected Morocco as well; however, according to the General Director the country had no significant losses as other Maghreb countries. Foreign tourist flow to our country increased by about 1%, although we expected 10%. – said Addu.

In 2011 Morocco was visited by about 10 million foreign tourists, the country takes second place in the tourist arrivals in Africa. Major donor countries are France, Spain, Belgium, Britain, Germany and Italy, reports RIA "Novosti".

According to Hamid Addu, the tour strategies are supported both by commercial undertakings and private individuals: "The Russian market is becoming more and more important. It’s moving forward and in about five years it will become one of the most important for Morocco. In 2012 we plan to receive 50 thousand tourists from Russia. "