The president of the Regional Tourism Council of the Casablanca-Settat region, Othman Cherif El Alami, calls for the introduction of a tax for foreign tourists, as the city of Venice in Italy has done.
Imposing a tax on foreign tourists. This is El Alami’s proposal to Moroccan coastal cities included in cruise itineraries. In a publication on LinkedIn, the president of the Regional Tourism Council (CRT) of the Casablanca-Settat region asked the cities concerned to follow the example of the city of Venice in Italy which has introduced a tourist tax.
Such a tax should help strengthen the infrastructure of airports in these cities, the official added, affirming that the tourism sector in Morocco is recovering this year, after suffering the perverse effects of the Covid-19 crisis. El Alami also mentioned the problem of pollution in most small tourist areas, not to mention the limited capacity of transport infrastructure, water management, rising prices and the poor quality of tourist services.
Some cities in the north of the kingdom also face these problems when they are invaded by foreign tourists and Moroccans living abroad (MRE), continued El Alami, stressing the need to strengthen the capacities of human resources in the tourism sector. The president of the CRT of Casablanca-Settat also requested the conduct of studies to determine the real tourist reception capacities of Morocco and to make estimates on visitor arrivals, in view of the 2030 World Cup.
In this dynamic, El Alami proposed the establishment of a reservation service to visit famous tourist sites such as the Jemaa el-Fna square in Marrakech, the Akchour site in Chefchaouen, or the Casablanca corniche and the Ain Diab beach.
