'Terror' hurts Moroccan tourism
2007-07-25 22:33
Marrakesh - After three days sitting in a dusty clearing, Ibrahim is beginning to wonder if a European tourist will ever hire one of his camels for a tour of the rose-lined boulevards of Marrakesh.
"The number of visitors has dwindled to nothing in the past
week," said the 21-year-old Moroccan, his lips pale and dry in
the summer heat. "I've been waiting for three days but not a
single tourist has come for a ride.
A tourism boom that transformed Marrakesh with hotels, apartments and golf courses seems to have paused, and some hotel
managers are blaming an increase in activity by Islamic militants.
North Africa has been on alert since al-Qaeda's affiliate in
the region threatened to escalate its war against "corrupt"
regional rulers and their Western allies.
Suicide bombings in Casablanca
In March and April in the coastal city of Casablanca, seven
suicide bombers detonated devices, two outside United States diplomatic buildings, killing all the bombers and one police officer.
"The flow of tourists has been shrinking and the authorities
refuse to make the numbers public," said a Marrakesh government
official who did not want to be named.
"The suicide bombings in Casablanca in April were another factor in the trend of falling tourist arrivals because it tainted the image of Morocco."
All that could spell problems for Morocco, once an offbeat
destination for the adventurous that is now embracing the era of
mass tourism.
This month the government raised its security alert to
"maximum", suggesting an attack by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists was
imminent.
"We are worried about the declaration of the maximum level of security alert because tourism is a sensitive and fragile business which could be influenced by such an announcement,"
said tour operator Khalil Majidi.
Others praised the government for its openness, saying
honesty was the best approach in the long run.
"The Moroccan authorities took a stand that is responsible
and transparent," said Jalil Ben Abbass Tearji, head of the
Moroccan tourism federation.
'We are still hopeful'
Some in the industry blamed the recent downturn on elections
that kept French people at home or a failure of professional
booking agents to keep up with the latest computer technology.
Loubna Lehresh, a receptionist in a high-class town house hotel, said she had seen some booking cancellations after the
Casablanca bombs and again after the latest security alert.
"But we must wait for August to see if there's a real drop,"
she said. "We are still hopeful."
Marrakshis said they were no strangers to tight security,
part of everyday life ever since hooded men shot dead two Spanish tourists in one of the city's hotels in 1994.
"Bombings may occur anywhere and at any time, whether in
Britain, Spain or elsewhere," said Anna Pitzalis, a 29-year-old
Dutch secretary. "That does not prevent me from visiting this
beautiful country."
"Morocco is not Afghanistan, Iraq or Palestine," said 52-year-old Italian Fabricio Corradin.