REPORT FROM MOROCCO – International hotel operators are opening new properties throughout Morocco as the North African nation

And key to the government’s determination to put Morocco firmly on the international tourism map is Plan Azur, an ambitious program to develop six huge luxury resort complexes during the next seven years along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. The complexes are expected to feature branded hotels, apartments and villas, shopping malls, golf courses and marinas.

“We’re planning 70,000 hotel beds for the six resorts,” said Omar Bennani, CEO of the Société Marocaine d’Ingénierie Touristique, the Moroccan tourism ministry’s development arm.

That number represents an almost-50-percent increase in the number of hotel beds in the entire country at the end of last year.

“Our goal is to sustain the development of our primary markets, which are France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom, and launch a strategy for emerging markets such as Russia and the Middle East in particular,” Bennani said.

Several years ago, the government instigated an “open skies” policy to allow more foreign airlines, including a number of European low-cost carriers, to serve popular Moroccan destinations.

“The aim of Plan Azur is to attract tourists seeking sun, sea, culture and nature and who will discover a country where tradition and modernity are coming together,” Bennani said.

Earlier this year, Spanish chains Barceló and Iberostar each opened a five-star property in the Saidia Mediterranea complex, the sole Plan Azur project located on the Mediterranean Sea and the first of the developments to be inaugurated.

Barceló’s US$86-million, 614-room property is the second of its hotels in Morocco, and there are plans to open three more in the interior cities of Marrakech and Fez in 2011.

Barceló is managing the establishment for the owner, the Moroccan investment fund H Partners, which was created 18 months ago as the first tourism investment fund in the country, said José Canals, Barceló’s director of operations in Morocco.

“Morocco is a very attractive destination, especially for the European market, in general, and Spain, in particular, because the two countries are so close,” Canals said.

Kerzner International, Oasis Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels Corporation and Accor, which is set to become the biggest foreign hotel company active in the country, are among the international chains opening properties in the five Plan Azur resort complexes along the Atlantic Ocean.  

Iberostar Saïdia

“Morocco is a key country for Accor because it’s geographically close to European feeder markets, and the domestic market is a priority for us considering the economic development of the country,” said Marc Thépot, managing director for Accor Hospitality in Morocco.

Despite the economic downturn, Thépot argued it’s the right time to invest in the sector.

“After the constant increase between 2005 and 2008, construction costs are now down; therefore, it’s the appropriate time to prepare good products that will be delivered while the economic situation in Morocco will be recovering,” he said.

Hotel executives praised the cooperation and help they received from Moroccan government officials during planning and construction. There have been no bureaucratic snafus worth mentioning or problems concerning security, labor squabbles or other issues.

“Most of the time everything has been on schedule thanks to the professionalism of our construction partners, Groupe Alliance and Oger International, as well as the Accor technical teams,” Thépot said.

Bennani acknowledged the economic doldrums triggered financial difficulties for international developers who had to pull out of at least two projects, but said Moroccan financiers were able to step in and save the day.

Tourism strategy takes shape

Plan Azur is just one of four tourism development programs under the Vision 2010 plan envisaged by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to increase annual tourist arrivals from 4 million in 2000 to 10 million by 2010 and as a means to generate employment for the country’s exploding youth demographic.

Bennani predicted 600,000 new jobs will be created under Vision 2010, which also calls for the repositioning and development of Morocco’s existing destinations such as Fez, Tangier, Marrakech and Casablanca, all of which have been targeted by international hotel operators.