Nov 1, 2009
EL JADIDDA, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco is expecting tourist arrivals to grow 5 percent this year to a record 8.4 million but revenues will fall a less-than-expected 6 percent, Tourism Minister Mohamed Boussaid said.

Official estimates earlier this year said tourism earnings, Morocco's biggest foreign exchange earner, would decline 15 percent.

"Even with the expected 5-6 percent decline in receipts, our tourism is proving remarkably resilient and its performance is good as the persistent global crisis is projected to cut global tourism demand by 5 percent this year," Boussaid told Reuters in an interview late on Saturday.

"Tourism receipts had shrank by 21 percent in the first quarter before recovering in the following quarters. We expect this improvement to continue for the rest of the year in both terms of arrivals and receipts," he said.

Boussaid said Morocco's strategy of building more hotels and facilities as well as liberalising air transport had helped support the industry.

The Mazagan complex, which opened in El Jadida, outside Casablanca, on Saturday night, was part of a government plan to build six resorts with a total of 80,000 beds between 2001 and 2010.