Morocco's Tourism Minister Faces Backlash for Overseas Travel Amid Flight Ban
While Morocco has suspended all direct passenger flights to the kingdom for a period of two weeks due to the rapid spread of the new variant of the Covid-19 virus — Omicron (B.1.1.529), particularly in Europe and Africa, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, Minister of Tourism, is multiplying international trips and returning to the country by normal means. This has sparked criticism.
Fatim-Zahra Ammor is criticized for her international travels after Morocco suspended all air links. While many Moroccans find themselves stranded abroad, the Minister of Tourism traveled to Madrid with a delegation of 52 people to participate in the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) last Monday.
She stayed for a week in the largest hotels in the Spanish capital, offering a dinner for 500 people in Madrid at the expense of the Moroccan taxpayer. On Thursday, she did not attend the government council when she was supposed to present for approval a decree concerning the exercise of craft trades.
These facts lead tourism professionals to criticize their supervising minister. They describe Fatim-Zahra Ammor’s appointment as a "real casting error," reports Maghreb Intelligence. "While hoteliers and other tourism professionals are on their knees, the minister is multiplying unnecessary trips (Dubai and Madrid) and snubbing operators," denounces a major hotelier in Agadir.
