In order to take stock of the ongoing restart of tourist activity, the ONMT has put together two documents which list the reactions of its foreign partners. According to an authorized source, these reassuring messages show that the 4th quarter of 2023 and the year 2024 should not be negatively impacted in terms of arrivals and revenues.
Twelve days after the few departures and cancellations of reservations which followed the terrible earthquake in the Marrakech region, the priority of the Moroccan National Tourism Office is now to reassure foreign tourists who might hesitate to stay in Morocco.
To do this, the Office collected reactions from foreign operators (airlines, tour operators, event companies, media, etc.) who were all reassuring about the Kingdom's ability to overcome this natural disaster and to welcome safely.
TO and carriers vouch for the Morocco destination
This is the case for major international travel prescribers such as the tour operator (TO) Christian Tour which is maintaining its charter in Marrakech at the end of September and which has not noted any cancellation of reservations for this date.
Ditto for the TO Rainbow departing from Warsaw which maintains its programming, for the TO Fram which announces very few cancellations thanks to the agents of its call centers who reassure undecided customers, and for the TO FTI which is committed to ensuring the same level of reservations as that of the pre-Covid period for the Winter 2023-2024 and Summer 2024 seasons.
Concerning the prescribers of the Benelux market, the TO partners Luxairgroup, Yellosun, Activ Golf, Thalasso Travel, Connections, ID International Travel and Events have also confirmed that there were no cancellations with the exception of a few isolated cases.
Equally reassuring, the association of Israeli tour operators, ITTAA, stressed that Morocco was a reliable destination which will be able to regain its vitality and its tourist activity as quickly as possible.
As for air transport, the company Condor, the main partner for the relaunch of the German market, confirms its programming for the winter season, while the Spanish carrier Volotea Airlines declares that it has not felt any negative impact on reservations for the moment .
No drop in bookings at online travel agencies
Among OTA (Online Travel Agent) users, the Trip Advisor site does not announce any significant repercussions on reservations, and says it is confident for the future.
Same observation at E-dreams which noted no cancellation of reservations, at Lastminute.com which declares that the recovery remains stable, give or take a few units, and for the El Corte Inglés group which announces a non-significant negative impact on reservations from October to December 2023.
In order to support the destination, the Perfectstay OTA offered two Morocco promotional campaigns on the Air France Collection and Transavia Travel portals, while the Misterfly OTA dressed its B2B and B2C sites in the colors of Morocco and, finally, the network Leclerc Voyage launched a special operation dedicated to Marrakech and Agadir on Tuesday September 19.
Confirmation of the holding of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, from October 9 to 15 in Marrakech, but also major business conventions such as those of the Amadeus Spain group in November 2023, of the GEA Portugal group in December 2023, from the Gattinoni label in November and from NG Travel during the same period, certainly contributes to maintaining reservations in the ocher city.
“No drop in arrivals or revenue in perspective”
A reassuring situation which leads an authorized source to say that the surge of international solidarity could have the effect of boosting the number of foreign arrivals initially planned for the last quarter of the year.
“If the large foreign operators want to be reassuring about the future and continue to include our destination in their next catalogs, it is not out of Christian charity, but because they have noted that Morocco has managed the situation very well and that the tourist infrastructure had not suffered in any way from the disaster", estimates our interlocutor who does not expect a drop in the level of arrivals or revenues in the short term and for the year 2024.
source : medias24.com