Casablanca (IINA) : In January 2017, overseas visitor arrivals at border posts in Morocco increased by 10 percent relative to the same period of the previous year.

Foreign tourists and Moroccans living abroad arrivals jumped by 13 percent and 7 percent year-on-year respectively.

Visits from main EU markets were higher than January 2016: +13 percent for Spain, +8 percent for Germany and the Netherlands and +6 percent for France and Belgium, Morocco World News reported.

Furthermore, figures from the other markets show very encouraging signs: +1350 percent for China, +29 percent for the U.S., +41 percent for South Korea, +84 percent for Russia and +55 percent for Japan.

Total visitor arrivals at border posts grew from January 2010 to January 2017 at a CAGR of 2.2 percent thanks to both foreign tourist’s arrivals which increased by a CAGR of 3.4 percent, and Moroccans living abroad arrivals which rose by a CAGR of 3 percent over the same period.

As far as overnight stays are concerned, they leaped by 11 percent driven by a 21 percent increase in overnight stays by non-resident tourists which counterbalanced an 8 percent plunge in overnights stays by resident tourists.

The cities of Agadir, Casablanca, and Marrakech accounted for 72 percent of total overnights stays in January.

Agadir, Casablanca, and Marrakech overnight stay increased by 20 percent, 7 percent, and 6 percent respectively.

Both Fes and Tangier overnight stays soared by 27 percent in the same period. Henceforth, occupancy rate rose by 2pts to 34 percent.

For the period 2010-2017, overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by a CAGR of 1.7 percent. Occupancy rate stood at 34 percent in 2010 as well.

Regarding travel receipts, they also rose by 2.9 percent to stand at MAD 4 billion.