Tourism / Morocco
“Meeting the goals of Vision 2020: total investments exceeding $17.5 billion”
The Moroccan Agency of Tourism Development (SMIT) was created five years ago, with the mission to assist the sector’s operators in carrying out the development strategy for tourism products. Their activity covers the entire value chain, from the product’s initial conception to its practical implementation. SMIT’s mandate also includes creating solutions for the development of specific products in terms of financing, implementation and management.
SMIT has a proactive commercial strategy, working directly with potential investors. It also offers market intelligence services aimed at facilitating every investor’s decision-making process. Its principal aim is to meet the goals of Vision 2020: total investments exceeding $17.5 billion and adding 200,000 beds to the existing capacity. «Out of the $17.5 billion required by Vision 2020, $7.2 billion have already been raised. As for the rest, we still have seven years to get there», says Imad Barrakad, its Chairman. Despite an adverse environment, the agreements signed in 2012 alone totalled some $1.6 billion.
For 2013, SMIT has set the target of attracting over $2 billion in investments and adding 17.000 beds to the existing capacity through fifteen projects. Such optimism is well founded, since this year a new investment charter, providing for a broader set of incentive measures, will come into play.
The Wessal fund, involving the governments of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to support tourism investment in Morocco, already represents a significant milestone towards Moroccan tourism strategy goals. In order to carry out new initiatives and establish stronger ties with its partners, SMIT takes part in several events and roadshows in the Gulf region, including the upcoming “Arabian Hotel Investment” Conference, to be held in early May 2013 in Dubai, in which SMIT is a major sponsor.
