Conference & Meetings World Supplements Morocco Supplement | Page 4

Morocco

The Kingdom of Morocco

Explore Africa ' s northern jewel, rich in culture and history... and MICE promise

L ocated in the Northern most corner of Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, Morocco has a diverse culture and history. Landscapes are varied, from the remote coasts of the north, the imposing Atlas Mountain range across the centre of the country, to the South East and the world’ s largest date palm grove, fl anked by gorges, valleys and lakes. Heading further south are the dunes of the Sahara desert. The Atlantic Ocean stretches an impressive 3000km from Tangier to the south of the country. The capital city and political centre is Rabat in the north west of the country, other key cities are Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Agadir, each well equipped with hotels and meeting spaces.

Located in the middle of the country lies Marrakech, a dominant player in the meetings sector largely due to its established infrastructure and central location to all Morocco has to offer. Morocco has a colourful history which is still very much alive. Its culture, a blend of religious and ethnic traditions, encompasses Arab, Berber, African, Mediterranean and Jewish. The country is predominantly Muslim, with small Jewish, Christian and Hindu minorities. Historically, Morocco was important economically for the Caravan routes that connected Europe and Africa, exchanging goods in both directions such as cloth, gold, paper, spices and handicrafts. In today’ s economy, Morocco’ s strengths lie in the areas of agriculture, a main economic driver, phosphate exportation and tourism employing over 400,000 people. Since 1999, when Morocco’ s current ruler His Majesty Mohammed VI was inaugurated, the country has seen a strong upshift in economic development and a proliferation of inter-nation development programmes across key sectors including banking, real estate, automotive, telecommunications, renewable energy and construction, further underlining Morocco’ s goal as a major player on the international stage. A long-standing infl uential meeting place for Africa and Europe, the heavy investment in infrastructure and facilities reaffi rms the country ' s ambitions as a meetings powerhouse, placing it as a strategic central meeting point.
Airports
The main international airports in Morocco are Casablanca’ s Mohammed V International Airport, the largest, followed by Marrakech’ s award-winning Menara Airport; others include, Rabat-Salé, Tangier, Fez, Agadir and Essaouira. Connectivity plays a key role
for Morocco’ s MICE business. Increasing its fl eet size, the national carrier Royal Air Maroc operates 800 non-stop connections with Europe each week. The airline also services 26 African countries from its Casablanca hub, as well as operating a good internal service.
TAP airlines operates 35 weekly fl ights, with good connecting long-haul fl ights via Lisbon. Other airlines operating in Morocco include: BA, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Alitalia, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad. Direct fl ights operate to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. The budget Airlines,
Ryanair and Easyjet operate services to many European destinations.
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