Morocco's Mediterranean coast: Benefiting from an "open for business" attitude.

Morocco: An emerging global player

Morocco is a long established tourist destination. This is hardly surprising given Morocco's wealth of culture, history, scenic beauty and excellent climate. The towns of Tangiers, Marrakech, Fez and Agadir have been justifiably attracting visitors for many years. Unfortunately, with the exception of the vibrant port city of Tangiers, Morocco's Mediterranean coast has largely missed out on the tourist boom. The good news is that this situation is changing, and changing fast. In recent years, massive investment has been ploughed into this beautiful but largely unknown area of Morocco. Furthermore, this huge investment is rapidly making the region a very attractive proposition for "in the know" property investors.

Vision

The impressive injection of money into the region is a direct result of the forward looking Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI's initiative to encourage many more visitors to his country. In 2001, under the auspices of the King, the Moroccan government announced the "Vision 2010" project with the stated aim of attracting 10 million visitors by 2010. The plan entails the creation of 6 "King's Resorts" including the large scale holiday development at Saidia on the Mediterranean coast. A major part of Vision 2010 is an enormous investment in the infrastructure of the Mediterranean coastal region.

How Morocco is changing

The King's avowed aim is to democratise, develop and modernise the country which under his father's reign had experienced much stagnation.

Here are some of the king's ambitious short-term political, cultural and economic goals:

Morocco - Proactively embracing free-trade principles

The following paragraph - published on the Embassy of Morocco's Washington DC website - succinctly illustrates Morocco's proactive approach to becoming a modern free market economy.

"In 1995, the kingdom signed an Association Agreement with the European Union to establish a Free Trade Area. In 2004, a Free Trade Agreement was signed with the United States. Other Free Trade Agreements have also been signed with Turkey, Arab countries and some African nations. Similar arrangements are underway with other countries around the world. Today, Morocco has the largest free trade network in the world".

Some examples of how Morocco is attracting overseas investment

In recent years the government of Morocco has implemented far-reaching policy reforms to address the challenges of globalization. They include:

These dramatic initiatives have almost without exception, been introduced to attract foreign investment. Furthermore, Morocco has created commercial courts specialising in business matters, established 16 regional investment offices that will act as a "one stop shop" to serve overseas companies intending to do business in the country.

To illustrate how Morocco's reforms are benefiting the country, below are the impressive 2006 figures for bilateral trade with the US:

Imports -       521.3
Exports -       875.7
Balance -     -354.3

(All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars)

Building for the future through tourism

Currently, the tourist sector contributes nearly $3 billion each year to the country's GDP.
Under the directive of King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan Government plans to increase visitor numbers which will significantly boost this figure. The main aims of the "Vision 2010" initiative include:

Land and sea connections

One of the main reasons why the Mediterranean coast has remained an economic and tourism backwater has been the poor infrastructure of the region, particularly in comparison to other parts of Morocco. However, this is changing fast; millions of Euros are being spent on major infrastructure improvements. A large proportion of the available investment funds are being used to create new motorway and rail links which will join many of the area's towns to the rest of the country. Another major project is the impressive new American built seaport nearing completion to the east of Tangiers. This port is intended to become Africa's largest maritime transport hub handling much of the container cargo between Europe and the African continent.

Tunnel

In 2003 Spain and Morocco agreed to fund a comprehensive engineering study to explore the feasibility of the construction of a tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar. The Spanish transport ministry has allocated 27 million Euros towards the investigation. If the engineering study proves favourable, the project could begin within five years.

Airports

Morocco has recently signed an "open skies agreement" with the EU. This has stimulated the interest of a number of low-cost flight companies; some have already announced their intentions operate routes to the country. Furthermore, The Moroccan transport ministry is spending millions of Euros on expanding and upgrading Morocco's airports, including the airports at Tangiers, Tetuan and Oujda.  

Construction boom

The investment in Morocco's infrastructure is being echoed by the boom in construction of new resort developments along the Mediterranean coast. Most of the new projects are private initiatives by developers keen to take advantage of the opening up of this beautiful and surprisingly green part of northern Morocco. As well as the spectacular King's Resort in Saidia, there are a number new resorts under development between Tangiers and the Algerian border.

The new Costa del Sol?

Morocco's Mediterranean coast looks set to rival the ever-popular Costa del Sol just across the Straits of Gibraltar as a major holiday destination. This may sound like an idle boast, but with the huge upgrading to the infrastructure, the agreeable climate, the short flights from Northern Europe and above all, the attractive property prices, there is every reason expect this beautiful area of Morocco to be the hottest new Mediterranean holiday destination.

Morocco: Leading the way in Africa

Unfortunately, most news stories that come out of Africa are invariably of the negative variety; whether it be wars, famine, corruption or political/religious unrest, Africa has a long history of making headlines for all the wrong reasons. It is fair to say that under the rule of its previous monarch, Morocco was just another uninspiring North African country. With the accession of the modern thinking King Mohammed VI, Morocco has not only reversed this trend, but in a few short years has made incredible progress which shows no signs of slowing down. Morocco is rapidly becoming the most modern nation in North Africa, and beyond. Furthermore, this stunning turnaround is acting as role-model for other African countries. Morocco has clearly shown that with a degree of vision and an "open for business" attitude, anything is possible.

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