The ONMT takes stock of a year of action in the service of recovery

• The organization of the Office and its operational efficiency have been strengthened
• A better knowledge of the expectations and behavior of travelers has been initiated
• Commercial relations with airline and distribution partners have been established and will bear fruit from summer 2021

The Board of Directors of the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) met this Wednesday, June 30 under the chairmanship of Ms. Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicrafts and the Economy Social, and in the presence of Mr. Othman El Ferdaous, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, to take stock of a year of action in the service of the resilience of the national tourism sector and its revival.

In this exceptional context, having put an almost total halt to global and national tourism, all of the ONMT teams mobilized in Morocco and around the world, worked energetically to preserve the fundamentals of the marketing system and commercial destination Morocco and prepare its reconstruction.

Improvement projects as part of the ACT 2018-20 Plan

Mr. Adel El Fakir, Director General of ONMT first reviewed the results of the ACT 2018-20 three-year strategy. This diagnosis, carried out in consultation with all the players in the sector, made it possible to identify the main areas for improving the Office’s strategy and operational approach.

Already initiated before the onset of the health crisis, these projects have made it possible to lay the groundwork for enhanced efficiency in 3 areas: the operational architecture and the adoption of a new market-oriented organization chart; business growth by strengthening demand control and brand strategy; institutional transparency by strengthening consultation with all ecosystem stakeholders.

The final objective being to enhance Morocco’s place among the ten most appreciated global destinations and to maximize the revenues of the tourist brand by ensuring its promotion and distribution throughout the world, as part of the dual marketing and commercial mission. of the Office.

An action plan to support the peak of the crisis

The Director General of the Office then retraced the main facts of an action plan adjusted according to the constraints of the health crisis, and marked by many initiatives.

Communication has been increased as a priority towards national professionals, from the first days of confinement, in order to give them, through digital tools, the factual elements of understanding the situation.

The link with international partners was also maintained, through regular exchanges.

In this particular context, several actions have been taken. 600 tourism operators were approached in Morocco and the Office participated in virtualized international fairs that brought together the profession.

The Morocco destination was at the center of attention during the ABTA congress through an innovative distance format. And as soon as the borders reopened in the fall of 2020, numerous written and audio-visual press trips as well as influencers were organized.

The dissemination of digitalization practices has been put at the service of information and motivation events for partners. Thus the Tourism Marketing Days (TMD) initiated in 2019 and renewed in virtual format, have become regular meetings in the sector: TMD Pro, TMD Media, TMD Régions, TMD Sky Restart.

In a spirit of solidarity, proximity to professional players has become a priority. The launch of a citizens’ campaign and a call for expressions of interest intended for the production of regional campaigns to promote domestic tourism have helped to support stakeholders and help them prepare for the future.

A regional tour was organized with regional professionals and local authorities, in order to jointly define the means of relaunching the sector. Nine out of twelve regions were visited in six weeks.

Knowledge of markets and brand strategy in the service of recovery

The intensive work carried out by the teams of the Moroccan National Tourist Office, both in terms of marketing and commercial relations with foreign partners, has been put in place in order to anticipate the end of the crisis.

And to establish its strategy, improving knowledge of the markets is a major issue. Also, the Office has put in place increased resources in terms of studies on source markets, through a massive and efficient model of multi-criteria segmentation.

Likewise, with regard to domestic tourism, a major study made it possible to better assess the expectations and behaviors of priority categories.

A structuring of the Brand approach has been initiated to support the relaunch with an entirely renewed strategic vision. The destination is thus moving from a single-brand strategy to a multi-brand architecture making it possible to address three distinct targets in a complementary manner: national travelers and MRE, world travelers and professional, institutional and media partners.

Dedicated to the domestic market, the “Ntla9awfbladna” brand, launched in May 2021, is repositioning the offer throughout the country and raising the desire for new experiences accessible to as many people as possible. Driven by a very inspiring creative concept aimed at Moroccans in Morocco and around the world, it is accompanied by a content platform dedicated to social networks and community media.

Regarding the brand dedicated to world travelers, the launch, in 2019, of the competition for the design of an international communication campaign and its production is in the finalization phase.

This international brand will be supported by a new generation digital strategy, aimed at generating traffic to the visitmorocco portal through a strong qualitative upgrade. With the aim of inspiration and commitment, the creation of an editorial and creative pool will permanently feed a real video streaming platform around Morocco stories.

Finally, the success of the Corporate brand, launched in April 2021, reflects the interest of national and international stakeholders in the new approach of the ONMT as a sector coordinator, summarized in its institutional signature “Tourism in Action”. This dimension of the Office should be further amplified through its “Open Data” project aimed at setting up a digital device facilitating access to secure tourist information data.

Restart: goal of winning back

While the “Restart” strategy is launched, the Office is adopting an aggressive reconquest strategy to quickly recover the country’s positions.

From the summer of 2021, the recovery will take place via the partnerships established with the major accounts of the ONMT. In terms of air travel, more than 3.5 million arrival seats are made available to travelers for the period from June 15 to September 30. Thus, outside the Casablanca hub, one in two seats is initiated by the ONMT.

As regards distribution, the contractualization with the partners makes it possible to reach, for the period from June to October, 106,000 overnight stays for conventional TOs and one million overnight stays with OTAs (online operators), i.e. 25% and 40% of 2019 achievements.

In addition to the commercial objective, TO, OTA and airline partners are encouraged to strongly contribute to the production of attractive promotional content.

Finally, public relations remain a key component of the recovery strategy, strengthening the reputation of the Morocco brand, particularly in terms of its good management of the health crisis, as well as its distinctive universe.

The occupation of the media and the amplification of digital influence will effectively support the new brand of the Morocco destination on international markets.

While 2020 will mark history as a year of exceptional crisis, it will also remain as a period of intense work carried out by the ONMT teams as well as by all tourism professionals.

The activity report, as well as the financial statement of the Office for the financial year carried out were approved by all the administrators, as well as the various axes of the recovery strategy presented by the Director General of the ONMT. .