[Image]
Around 4,3 million tourists visited Morocco during the first seven months of 2007, that is a 10% rise compared with the same period of last year, according to figures released by the Department of Tourism.

The French topped the list with about 1.7 million tourists, followed by the Spanish (795,000), the Belgians (285,000), the British (261,000), the Dutch (211,000), the German (182.000), and the Italians (164,000).

According to the same source, tourist nights in classified hotels posted a 7% increase, reaching some 10 million nights.

The Department noted that Marrakech remains atop the list of highly visited tourist destinations with +11%, followed by Casablanca (+10%), Tangier with 9%, Fez with +7%, Rabat (6%), and Agadir (+3%).

The French and English markets and residents contributed with 65% of the additional nights registered since the turn of the year.

Morocco has developed an ambitious strategy, dubbed "Vision 2010", aimed at attracting 10 million tourists by 2010. This strategy provides for creating 160,000 beds, thus bringing the national capacity to 230,000 beds. It also aims to create some 600,000 new jobs.

The good news on the tourist front was offset by the fact that Moroccan consumer prices rose 2.1 percent in the first eight months of 2007 as housing and food got more expensive, official data showed on Thursday. Housing prices grew 3.7 percent from the same period a year earlier, while food costs rose 3.0 percent, the High Planning Commission said in a statement. Transport and communication was the only category to decline, falling 1.7 percent. The headline inflation figure was unchanged from a month earlier. The government envisages an inflation rate of around 2.0 percent this year. Inflation for 2006 was 3.3 percent, above a government forecast of 2.0 percent because of higher oil prices and a severe drought that cut domestic crops and made food more costly.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news