Morocco needs 60,000 additional beds to meet tourist needs

Morocco needs an additional 60,000 beds and more flight seats to meet increasing tourist demands, said a Moroccan executive.

Samir Sahraoui, general manager of the national tourism board (ONMT) told MAP office in London that Morocco's accommodation capacity should reach 150,000 beds to achieve commercial viability of countries with a tourism calling, as defined by the World Tourism Organization., Map reported.

Regarding the British market, the executive said Morocco is regaining its share in the market as the number of visitors from Britain increased by over 36 percent in comparison with last year, after the recession of the precedent two years (1995 and 1996).

In the first nine months of 1998, the number of British visitors to Morocco reached 81,028, making of Britain Morocco's fifth customer after France, Germany, Spain and BENELUX countries.

However, he said, these figures are still below the good performance of the 80s when the annual average of British tourists ranged between 15,000 and 16,000 visitors.

Morocco is poised to exceed 2 million tourists this year and is targeting a usd four billion in revenues from tourism.

The Moroccan executive was in London to supervise Morocco's participation in the prestigious "World Travel Market" which wound up Thursday.