Tuesday, November 26, 2024 at 6:20 p.m.
Beijing – The Chinese capital Beijing hosted an event on Tuesday focused on presenting Morocco’s tourism assets and promoting the Kingdom as a flagship destination among local operators.
Organized by the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) in partnership with Leader International Tourism Group, a major tour operator in northern China, this event brought together around 550 participants, including representatives of the Moroccan Tourism Professional Association. Beijing, travel agents affiliated with the Leader International group, members of the Fengtai district government, as well as several journalists.
This event aimed in particular to present the Morocco destination and strengthen its positioning with the sales force of Leader International Tourism Group located mainly in Beijing and the cities of northern China, which group anticipates significant growth in the market. Moroccan, especially with the resumption of direct Casablanca-Beijing flights by Royal Air Maroc (RAM) from January 20, 2025.
In a speech for the occasion, the ambassador of His Majesty the King to China, Abdelkader El Ansari, placed the event in the context of the relations of friendship and cooperation that have always existed between Rabat and Beijing.
In this regard, he recalled the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Kingdom, last Thursday in Casablanca, where he was received by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan.
The diplomat indicated that Morocco’s tourism policies have made notable advances over the past fifty years, reaching a high level of maturity in terms of know-how and expertise.
He noted that the Kingdom has an ambitious strategy to develop its tourism industry for the coming years, noting that beyond traditional markets in Europe, Morocco aims to strengthen its attractiveness in new markets.
The Chinese market occupies a privileged place in this regard, as evidenced by the Kingdom’s decision to exempt Chinese nationals from the visa formality, argued the ambassador.
The ground is conducive to greater cooperation between Moroccan and Chinese tourism stakeholders, he judged, inviting the professionals present at the event to deploy all necessary efforts to raise this cooperation to the desired levels.
The representative of the ONMT in Beijing, Hicham Bellaziz, announced to the audience that Morocco is now the leading tourist destination in Africa, with 14.9 million visitors recorded at the end of October 2024.
“Morocco aims to become one of the ten most admired destinations in the world,” he affirmed, adding that to achieve this objective, the Ministry of Tourism has developed an ambitious and inclusive action plan, combining strengthening of air capacity, diversification of tourism products, investment, digital action, and conquest of new markets, among others.
The action plan in question will also make it possible to meet important deadlines, in this case the organization of major sporting events such as the African Cup of Nations in 2025 and the Football World Cup in 2030, he continued.
Mr. Bellaziz also highlighted the diversity of the Moroccan tourist offer, which, beyond the classic destinations known by Chinese travel organizers, offers cultural, artistic and sporting experiences adapted to the expectations of the Chinese market.
Efforts to develop access to the Chinese market will be reinforced by the reestablishment of the Casablanca-Beijing line of the RAM, and by the air capacity that the Chinese company China Eastern Airlines intends to deploy to Morocco, he said. .
For his part, the president of Leader International Tourism Group, David Coa, welcomed the holding of this event, considering that it is part of the increasingly close relations and friendly exchanges between Morocco and China.
Since the launch of its tourism activities in Morocco in 2018, Leader International Tourism Group has organized more than 1,000 tours and served tens of thousands of Chinese tourists, he indicated, highlighting the latter’s enthusiasm for Moroccan tourist products.
In view of Morocco’s potential, this tour operator will continue to collaborate with the ONMT to develop more tourism products meeting the needs of Chinese visitors, he maintained.
In addition, Leader International Tourism Group plans to cooperate with Moroccan cultural institutions to organize festivals, exhibitions and other activities so that Chinese tourists can better understand Moroccan history and culture, he added.
Participants in this event then attended presentations on Moroccan tourism potential, in particular with regard to infrastructure, hotel offerings and the intangible and material wealth of the Kingdom, as well as on the action plan of the ONMT for the period 2023-2026.
Several institutional films were also screened, highlighting the numerous tourist attractions of the main Moroccan cities and destinations, in addition to the diversity of the Kingdom’s heritage.
This event was marked by the presence, in particular, of the president of the Beijing Tourism Association, Song Yu, the vice-governor of Fengtai district of Beijing, Gao Chongyao, and the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau from Fengtai District of Beijing, Li Shiqi.
