According to the Moroccan minister of tourism, air transport, craftsmanship and social economy, Mohamed Sajid, tourism has generated 64.2 billion dirham (about $6.7 billion) of revenues for the country in 2016.

The sector thus contributed to 7% of Morocco’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year, creating 2.5 million direct and indirect jobs.

Mohamed Sajid also said that the number of tourists’ arrivals has increased from 9.3 million in 2010 to 10.3 million in 2016. However, this rise remains below the forecasts of the “Vision 2020” programme which aims to bring this figure to 20 million by 2020.

Regarding air traffic, statistics show a 7.6% annual average slump, between 2005 and 2006. The Open Sky agreement signed in 2006 with the European Union helped raise the number of passengers from 9.2 million in 2003 to 18.2 million in 2016.

As for international flights’ passengers, data from the Moroccan ministry of tourism, air transport, craftsmanship and social economy indicates that the related number rose from 7.3 million in 2003 to 16.3 million in 2016. Over the same period, the number of foreign airports connected to Morocco soared from 43 to 120.