Morocco

A kingdom located at a crossroads between Europe and Africa, Morocco has maintained stability despite economic hardship in the past. The government has been working hard over the past few years to develop a sustainable and healthy economy for all of its citizens, including major infrastructure improvements and housing schemes, while working closely with Europe and the US to both ensure regional stability and create open markets for trade and commerce.

Morocco has developed an ambitious strategy, dubbed "Vision 2010", aimed at attracting 10 million tourists a year by 2010. This strategy provides for creating 160,000 beds, bringing the national capacity to 230,000 beds. It also aims to create some 600,000 new jobs. There are six key areas identified in the broader Azur Plan which focuses on large scale development project sites predominantly located on the coastline, with contracts already awarded to international developers.

The Moroccan Government is heavily investing in tourism with an objective to increase tourist levels by an average of 15% per annum until 2010. This investment covers many different aspects of the infrastructure and is aimed at increasing the proportion of Morocco's GDP which is accounted for by tourism to 20%.

Morocco's tourism industry faired well in 2008 with eight million tourists visiting the country, a 7% growth compared to 2007. This was comprised of a diverse tourist base – with France remaining the most important foreign source market (up 8% in 2008), followed by Spain (up 12%), however additional markets such as British, Belgians and tourists from the middle east are also prominent.

Despite the growth of the sector the Ministry of Tourism has drafted a new plan to protect Moroccan tourism from the effects of the global economic crisis: The new plan called CAP 2009 is aimed at keeping Morocco attractive to tourists, the plan includes a vaiety of strategies to promote Morocco and will be aimed at Europe, the Gulf region and Russia, it facilitates measures to develop domestic tourism, boost Morocco's image, encourage tourist loyalty and maintain investments in tourism.

Business Monitor International forecast that tourisms will remain stable in 2009, returning to historic growth levels from 2010 onwards. (Morocco Tourism Report, Business Monitor International, March 2009)

The government's investment initiatives mainly focus on the provision of both tourist accommodation and hotels with a concentration on the coast line and additional facilities including golf courses.

The vast scale of construction is already having a major impact on the local economy and is set to continue into 2010, with GDP growth in the region of 6.6% for Q1 2009 predicted by the government.

Real estate capital growth rates are hard to measure accurately with a variety of sources having reporting levels of between 15 - 30% per annum. Gross rental yields are strong with the national average running in the region of 7% per annum, however rates achieved in the key tourist zones are considerably higher.ç

The recent Open Skies policy can only further benefit tourism. A number of low-cost airlines have entered the market. Operators such as Easyjet, Ryanair, Atlas Blue, Royal Air Maroc, British Airways and Thomson all offer direct flights to Marrakech from major UK airports as well as a large number of other countries and these services are encouraging even more growth in tourism in and around the major cities.

Morocco - Key Factors:

• Political and economic stability with continuing growth
• Massive investment in infrastructure and tourism via Vision 2010 & CAP 2009
• Investment in infrastructure including:

• Open Skies Agreement
• Airport Expansion Programmes
• Road Networks
• Ports
• Coastal Resorts & Amenities
• High Speed Train Lines

• Ongoing Growth in Tourist levels.
• Diverse base of Tourists
• Development of Free Trade Zones
• Low entry level property in comparison to other European Destinations
• Cultural Mecca
• Un-spoilt beach front locations
• Strong rental yields and positive capital appreciation