Morocco woos tourists from Germany

Morocco seeks to double the number of German tourists who were 230,000 to choose Morocco for their holidays in 1999, bringing a daily average of $80, said tourism minister, Hassan Sebbar.

He said the German market was the only one which maintained, and even improved its share of the Moroccan tourism market in the last 20 years. However, he went on, these figures are still below Morocco's potentials which are better exploited by France, Britain, Italy and Spain.

The minister, who was speaking in the presence of a group of Arab peers at Morocco's day at Berlin's 34th international tourism bourse, said increasing the number of German tourists visiting Morocco can only be achieved with the collaboration of German tour operators and investors.

In 1998, Morocco-- which has been taking part for 25 consecutive years in the tourism fair of Berlin-- staged a promotion campaign worth 1.6 million DM.

Germany, the tourism minister said, ranks after the USA in terms of foreign travels per inhabitant. German tourists disbursed 320 to 350 million DM in 1999.

Sebbar also participated in a debate on cooperation in tourism between Germany and the Arab world and met peers from Arab and foreign countries.