By AFP
RABAT: The number of tourists visiting Morocco was up by one percent last year, at just over 9.34 million, despite the world economic downturn, tourism official Kamal Bensouda said Thursday.
Tourist income was also up, by four percent, at 59 billion dirhams (€5.36 billion, $7.12 billion), he told MAP news agency.
The steady results came despite recession in Europe, a continent which accounts for 80 percent of Morocco’s tourists, Bensouda said.
Most visitors are French, Spanish, or Moroccans living abroad, he added.
Morocco was the only north African country which did not see a drop in tourism last year, when Arab Spring revolutions swept away the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Tourism is one of Morocco’s main foreign income earners.
