The Minister of Tourism, Handicrafts, Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, confirmed on Friday in Marrakech that Morocco aspires to make experience-based tourism a real economy based on innovation, and open to various investors.
The Minister highlighted, in a speech during the second international conference on “Innovation and Tourism Investment”, that the Kingdom is undergoing a profound transformation based on the development of infrastructure, economic openness, and investment in human capital, which makes tourism a strategic pillar in this national transformation. She also reviewed the structural progress achieved, especially the creation of 45,000 additional beds, the expansion of air connectivity by 30 percent, and the support of about 2,000 tourism and entertainment projects within the framework of the national programs allocated. She stressed, however, that numbers alone are not enough, confirming the need to define a clear direction for the next phase. In this context, the Minister explained that innovation today constitutes the main engine for the next phase, through supporting startups, facilitating access to finance, accompanying projects, and developing incubator systems. She reviewed, in this regard, the initiatives that have been launched to stimulate innovation, including the organization of the first national competition in 2024, which resulted in projects that are now being implemented, followed by a second edition in 2025 that focused on promising sectors, particularly digital services, entertainment, and Moroccan cuisine. Ms. Ammor also announced, from Marrakech, the launch of a third edition dedicated to rural tourism, as a strategic lever for territorial development. For his part, the Director General of the Moroccan Company for Tourism Engineering, Imad Barrakad, stressed the need to move from the logic of isolated projects to building major players capable of representing Morocco internationally, highlighting that the experience-based tourism offer still needs more structuring and valuation. He explained that the company adopts a comprehensive strategy aimed at democratizing tourism investment, by relying on startups as a basic lever for small investment, through an integrated system that includes project engineering, financing mechanisms, incubation, and linking with investors at the national and international levels. This conference, organized by the Moroccan Company for Tourism Engineering in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts, Social and Solidarity Economy and the United Nations Tourism Organization, aims to give a new impetus to investment by encouraging the emergence of innovative projects with high added value. The program of this event included sessions to present startup projects, seminars on financing innovation and future tourism trends, as well as an exhibition of national initiatives in the fields of digitization, electronic games, and culinary arts. The meeting was also distinguished by the crowning of the most innovative projects within the framework of the national competition launched by the Moroccan Company for Tourism Engineering in partnership with the United Nations Tourism Organization, which saw the participation of 275 startups. It was also announced the launch of a new competition dedicated to rural tourism, which aims to identify and accompany projects with a strong spatial impact, within the framework of the national strategy to diversify the tourism offer.
