Rabat, Jan. 30 - Around 7.45 million tourists have visited Morocco in 2007, i.e. a 13% rise from the year 2006, which yielded some USD 7.7Bn, announced, here Tuesday, Moroccan Tourism and Craft Industry Minister, Mohamed Boussaid.
Graded hotels recorded 16.9 million nights, that is a 3% increase compared to the year before, the minister said in a press briefing to present the results of tourism activities in 2007.
The French continue to top the list with 2.85 million tourists, followed by the Spaniards (1.6Mn), the Belgians (431,000), the British (419,000), the Italians (370,000), the Dutch (361.000), and the Germans (296,000).
Except for the southern cities of Ouarzazate that posted a 3% decrease, and Agadir whose figures have remained stable, all the other tourist destinations received more tourists. Casablanca topped the list with 9%, followed by Fez (center) (+8%), Rabat (+5%), Marrakech (+5%) and Tangier (+3%).
The minister said tourism has become the chief source of investments and jobs creation in the Kingdom, as well as a driving force for sustainable development, contributing 8% to the GDP.
The north African country has set the goal of attracting 10 million tourists by 2010. To that end, it has devised a strategy dubbed "Vision 2010" which provides for creating 160,000 beds, thus bringing the national capacity to 230,000 beds. It also aims at creating some 600,000 new jobs
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