Moroccan tourism has suffered serious troubles recently. The terrorist attack that took place in Casablanca in May scared off a number of tourists. The fact that there are active terrorist cells in the country naturally put off foreign visitors. Nevertheless, the Moroccan government believes that the industry will not suffer from terrorism.
They have plans to expend the industry. Most foreign visitors come to the country from Europe, mainly from France. There is also the large Moroccan community living in France, which usually spends its summer vacations in the homeland. The Moroccan officials want to increase the number of British people coming to their country therefore they decided to spend more money on promotion. The Moroccan National Tourist Office (MNTO) will increase its expenditures in the UK hoping that it will bring more British to Moroccan tourism destinations. The campaign will start in 2008 and the cost is expected to be 2.5 million Euros, which is a 20% increase over 2007.
The campaign will promote variety of destinations within the country including Fez, Agadir and Marrakech. The fact is that there were 376,000 visitors from the UK in the first nine months of 2007, which is a 37% increase compared to the same period in 2006. The MNTO plans to attract 670,000 UK visitors by 2010.
The country is attractive for tourist because of many reasons. Tourists can admire the remains of the Andalucian culture and ancient civilizations. They can go to open air-markets, the Atlas Mountains, the Imperial Cities or beautiful beaches. The country also provides a good tourism infrastructure. The capital city is served by international airlines. Some airports also provide charter services allowing visitors to access remote parts of the country not serviced by scheduled airlines. The transport system includes well developed road and rail linkages between all the main centers.
