Sajid stresses tourism importance

The Minister of Tourism, Air Transport and Handicraft, Mohamed Sajid, stressed that the city of Dakhla has become an important tourism destination at the national level, thanks to the natural and cultural qualifications of the city as well as the efforts of the sector's professionals and the development of tourism facilities.

In an interview with Al Maghrib Today, Sajid revealed the development of tourism in the city of Dakhla in the valley of gold, the status of the sector and the means to develop this sector in the desert areas. He pointed out that Moroccan tourism is the main source of hard currency and ranks second in the sectors contributing to GDP, about 20 million tourists annually by 2022.

Regarding the desert tourism, the minister said that desert tourism is considered the first competitor to the tourism of old cities. "For decades, there have been organized trips that take tourists from Frankfurt to Ouarzazate directly and then return directly from where they came," he added. "During these trips, the tourist visits the palm groves, sand dunes and dry valleys, and discovers the world of nomads and visits the fields of some special crops such as henna, saffron and municipal roses.

Regarding the communication meeting which was organized in Dakhla, last Saturday, he said that this meeting is part of the field tours carried out by the Ministry of Tourism to various parts of the Kingdom, to track the progress of development programs and projects in tourism sector.

The Minister also reviewed the tourism qualifications of the region, which constitute a meeting point between the desert and the ocean as well as its qualifications in the field of cultural and environmental tourism, and in the sports tourism sector due to the favorable climatic conditions of Dakhla's gulf, which provides a tourism value added in the region.

He explained that marketing of this area as a tourist destination is based on the basic pillars of water sports, which made Dakhla a station of major international stations in this type of sports and recreational tourism.

The minister said that the tourism sector in this desert region has witnessed a great recovery in recent years, which is confirmed by the number of hotel reservations, which moved from 25 thousand in 2011 to 100 thousand last year.

He mentioned a number of aspects that contribute to the revitalization of the tourism sector in the region, including encouraging young people to establish small businesses in areas related to the tourism sector.