After their crisis with Spain, Moroccans choose Turkey as an alternative tourist destination
Last Updated: 2022-02-16
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The Moroccan authorities sent warnings to businessmen, parliamentarians, party leaders, union leaders, and human rights, sports and artistic associations, not to go to Spain for recreation, “under any circumstances” due to a diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco, which is why Moroccans chose Turkey as an alternative tourist destination.
You will read in this article
Spain was the first tourist destination for Moroccans
4 reasons why Moroccans go to Turkey
You will read in this article
Spain was the first tourist destination for Moroccans
4 reasons why Moroccans go to Turkey
- Diversity of tourist offers in Turkey
- Moroccan-Turkish economic partnerships
- The impact of Turkish drama on Moroccans
- Privileges for Moroccan investors in Turkey
Moroccan tourists in numbers
Spain was the first tourist destination for Moroccans
Spain is one of the favorite tourist destinations for Moroccans, due to its geographical proximity and the ideal tourist offers it provides, which made the demand for it increasing. In 2018, the number of Moroccan tourists in Spain reached 900,000, and they entered to the Spanish treasury about 540 million US dollars. But after the deterioration of relations between the two countries, tourism was greatly affected, and Spain was no longer the first destination for Moroccans.
4 reasons why Moroccans go to Turkey
1- Diversity of tourist offers in Turkey
Tourism in Turkey is characterized by diversity, as it includes a wide range of popular tourist attractions, which suit the tastes of tourists, from exciting adventures, medical tourist resorts, recreational parks, and sacred religious places. It also has a cultural and historical legacy that extends for thousands of years and includes historical landmarks dating back to many civilizations in different regions and states. Thus, Turkey rose to the fourth place in Europe and sixth in the world in terms of receiving tourists. In 2019, it received about 52 million tourists, achieving revenues of 34.5 billion dollars.
2- Moroccan-Turkish economic partnerships
There are 160 Turkish companies in Morocco in many fields, foremost of which are building and construction, trade, and weaving, after the implementation of the free trade agreement between Morocco and Turkey began in 2006, and the launch of the implementation of the agreement is a new history for Moroccan-Turkish relations in the last decade. Trade exchanges since the beginning of the signing of free trade agreements between Morocco and Turkey amounted to 27 billion dirhams (2.8 billion dollars) in 2018, compared to 6.6 billion dirhams (0.684 billion dollars) only in the year 2016.
3- The impact of Turkish drama on Moroccans
Over the past years, Turkish series have captured the attention of Moroccan viewers, and taken a large part of their watch hours on Moroccan satellite channels. These series enjoy high levels of viewing by men and women of different ages, with their preferences and motives varying from one artwork to another. At different filming locations, the features offered by the series' scenes vary according to the issues they raise. The director’s eye may capture ancient and modern landscapes, monuments, and architectural landmarks that support the idea of the work and offer a tourist meal on a dramatic table. Hence, Turkish drama contributed in one way or another to prompting a number of Moroccans to visit Turkey, especially after they got to know about it with artwork, which motivated them to visit it and watch the country closely.
4- Privileges for Moroccan investors in Turkey
Turkey provides foreign investors with a working environment at the level of developed countries in terms of the application of international competition laws. It is characterized by being a young country in terms of demographics and diverse in terms of cultural richness and natural resources, as well as providing an excellent climate for investment through institutional and legal infrastructure. “Political stability and transparency” are two main factors that are taken into consideration when making any investment decision, and that investors do not want to face the uncertainties and transaction costs that would adversely affect the viability of the investment. Since the liberal economic system is the prevailing system today, Turkey works to support the economy through institutions that operate independently on the basis of neutrality, technocracy and efficiency, in accordance with global economic rules, which gives the Moroccan investor confidence that all projects operating in the markets will be conducted on fair terms and subject to supervision by the public authorities in the country, without granting local companies any privileges over foreign companies.
Moroccan tourists in numbers
The number of Moroccan tourists visiting Turkey during the year 2019 recorded a significant jump by 32.7% over the previous year. As it continued to rise in 2019 to reach 234,000 visitors, compared to about 176,000 in 2018, and 114,000 in 2017, which indicates a doubling of the number within two years. While the number in 2003 did not exceed about 13.7 thousand visitors, to be the highest rate of increase recorded among Arab tourists coming to Turkey, according to what was reported at the time by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
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