Tourism professionals expect 10 million tourists in 2010

Moroccan tourism professionals are expecting 10 million tourists in Morocco in 2010, which would make of Morocco one of the 20 top tourism destinations in the world.

The federation of tourism professionals said if the goal is to be fulfilled, tourism, one of the major hard currency sources, should be considered as an exporting sector. In 1999, tourism yielded the largest hard currency remittances, exceeding for the first time those of Moroccan expatriates.

The tour operators who were satisfied over the invitation to attend the national export encounters wished that they would benefit from provisions of the investment charter to remedy the lack of infrastructure.

For the federation, Morocco can easily reach the 10 million tourists and raise its accommodating capacity from the present 70,000 to 230,000 beds by 2010. Tourism is also likely to represent 20% of the GDP against 7% this year and generate 1,200,000 jobs representing 15% of urban population.