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afrol News, 13 May - It seemed like Morocco was escaping the worldwide drop in tourism in wake of 9/11. The latest numbers from the African country closest to the European tourism market however show that the first quarter of 2002 has been disastrous to the industry. Agadir - Morocco's principal seaside resort - experienced a nearly 30 percent decrease in arrivals. In the first quarter of 2001, the popular Atlantic Ocean resort Agadir had received a total of 173.688 tourists. This year, only 128,360 were registered; a drop of 28.97 percent, statistics from the Agadir Tourism Authority show. Visits from all traditional visitor countries had dropped, but Swedish had shown the greatest decrease in visitors' number; a drop of nearly 80 percent from 11,221 to 2,276. The number of occupied hotel rooms had dropped even more sharply, indicating that the fewer guests also staid for a shorter time. A decrease of 31.17 percent was noted, to the great stress of the accommodation industry of Agadir. The numbers of the Agadir Tourism Authority somewhat contradict numbers released by the Madrid-based World Tourism Organisation in March this year. Tourism had grown by 3 percent in Morocco in 2001 all in all, according to the organisation. Agadir in particular had had a very positive development in 2001. Growth between January and August last year had however been at 7.6 percent, indicating that the turning point indeed could have been 9 September. The overall numbers for tourism in Morocco after 9/11 are still not known. However, cultural resorts, such as the historical capital Fez - also a Muslim centre - earlier reported they were strongly affected by the decrease in tourism. In November, visits to Fez were down 45 percent and in January, they had still been 25 percent lower than usual. Thousands of workers in Fez, including taxi drivers, hotel staff and local craftsman, reportedly were affected by the crisis. The Moroccan tourism industry had been growing constantly before 9/11 and contributes with a significant portion of the country's foreign exchange earnings. The country has become an attractive tourist destination especially for Europeans due to its pleasant climate, exotic nature and culture, its closeness to Europe and an increasing existence of modern tourist resorts along the coast. Morocco being a Muslim country however seems to have scared off many Europeans in these polarising times. Sources: Based on WTO, Moroccan govt, press reports and afrol archives
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