Morocco's tourism receipts rise by 19 % in 1998

Morocco earned in 1998 over $ 1.61 billion in tourism receipts recording a 19 % increase compared to the returns posted in 1997. Addressing Tuesday the chamber of Advisors (senate), Moroccan tourism minister, Hassan Sebbar, said his department -- which invests annually around $ 9 million in promotion campaigns-- has set an ambitious plan to gain four million tourists in the few coming years and increase the country's accommodation capacity.

To reach that goal, Sebbar said a number of incentive measures will be adopted to gain more investment to the sector to make the Moroccan product more competitive.

He recalled that around two million foreign tourists (mostly from the European Union) visited Morocco in 1998. The French are the first foreign tourists visiting Morocco. The Spanish come second followed by the Britons.

Over the first four months of 1999, the number of foreign tourists amounted to 662,746, up 13.3 % compared to the same period last year. This shows a good outlook for the sector for the year 1999.