In 2022, Moroccan airports will handle 15 million passengers
Morocco’s tourism sector is gradually recovering, as the country slowly returns to pre-pandemic levels. According to the report of public establishments and enterprises (EEP) accompanying the finance bill (PLF), in 2022, the Kingdom’s airports will receive 15 million passengers.
Rabat-Morocco airports are expected to resume normal passenger traffic by 2024, with gradual improvement from next year, according to a recent report.
“By 2022, the movement of passengers through Moroccan airports should increase by 60%, to reach another 80% by 2023. To reach 25 million passengers by 2024, the same as in 2019”, clarifies the report. The pace of the Moroccan airport decreased by more than 71% between the period 2015 and 2019. In 2018, passenger movements in Moroccan airports recorded around 22.5 million passengers, before dropping to 25 million in 2019. and decrease to just 7.7 million in 2020.
According to data from the Ministry of the Economy, the net income of the Moroccan Airports Office (ONDA) increased from 566 million dirhams (62 million dirhams) in 2019 to 1.9 billion dirhams (209 million of dirhams) last year. Forecasts indicate that the number of passenger transactions will reach 2 billion dirhams by the end of the year, an increase of 31% from last year.
To deal with the crisis, ONDA has drawn up a strategic plan. The office is preparing to invest more than 5 billion dirhams for the period from 2022 to 2024, mainly to be allocated in order to expand and modernize projects at the airports of Rabat, Tangier, Agadir, Dakhla, Tetouan and El Hoceima.
The first quarter of 2021 shows a 78% drop in tourist arrivals, representing 230,000 tourists, compared to the same period in 2020, according to figures announced by the previous Minister of Solidarity and Social Development, Jamila El Moussali. The drop in the number of tourists is equivalent to a loss of 5.3 billion dirhams (601.71 million dollars) in tourism revenue in Morocco, a decrease of 69% year on year.