Moroccan tourism up 10.6 percent as the French watched soccer

The number of foreign tourists having visited Morocco during the first nine months of 1998 stood at 1,563,277, a 10.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 1997, said a document released by the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism.

The number of nights spent in graded hotels also increased by 9.8 percent during the first eight months of the current year to stand at 8,132,163 compared to 7,407,866 in the previous year.

International tourism returns increased by 16.7 percent to amount to 10.77 million dirhams during the first 8 months of 1998 instead of 9.23 million during the same period in 1997.

The number of Austrian tourists recorded the highest increase in the number of European tourists visiting the country with 40.4 percent, followed by the Scandinavians with 34.4 percent, the Belgians with 32.7 percent, the Swiss with 28.1 percent and the Dutch with 25.9 percent.

The number of tourists from Eastern Europe totalled 20,165, recording an increase of 5.4 percent while the arrivals from the United States increased by 8.3 percent and from Canada by 2.8 percent.

Arrivals from France have dropped by 8 percent, the document notes, relating this decrease to the soccer World Cup hosted by France.