BCN-08 Morocco’s tourism revenues plummet 53.8 pct in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic

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ZCZC

BCN-08

MOROCCO-COVID-19-TOURISM

Morocco’s tourism revenues plummet 53.8 pct in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic

RABAT, Feb 23,2021 (BSS/XINHUA) – Morocco’s revenues from tourism dropped by 53.8 percent in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Finance said Tuesday in a report.

The country’s tourism revenues decreased by 4.9 billion U.S. dollars, while the number of tourists fell by 72.3 percent with a loss of more than 8 million visitors.

Morocco’s economy relies heavily on tourism, which took up 7 percent of the North African country’s gross domestic product in 2019.

It is also of the country’s main sources of foreign currency and creates nearly 550,000 direct jobs annually.

BSS/XINHUA/TIT/1951HRS