Travel to Morocco and Covid-19: reopening of borders, access conditions... What you need to know to get there in 2022

Morocco reopens its air borders on February 7, 2022, after two months of complete closure due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and the Omicron variant. Ruined end-of-year celebrations, bloodless tourism professionals... Hope is reborn in the Cherifian Kingdom. Traditional epicenter of tourism in the sun in this winter period, the country has completely disappeared from the radars of vacationers, in favor of the Dominican Republic, for example.

, the government said in a statement.

The executive also extended Thursday the state of health emergency in force since 2020, throughout the territory, until February 28.

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"This is good news for French travel companies because Morocco is traditionally in the top three destinations when the French choose to go abroad"

, reacted Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne on France Info TV this January 28.

, I'm delighted for French travel companies",

he added,

.

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Morocco remains classified in "orange"

The precise measures concerning the conditions of access for tourists, in particular those from France where the number of Covid-19 contaminations is exploding, have not yet been announced.

The only certainty, Morocco being classified as “orange” (active circulation of the virus in controlled proportions) by the French authorities, only vaccinated French people could go there for tourist reasons.

The non-vaccinated must justify a compelling reason.

In recent months, the Moroccan government had also repeatedly revised the restrictions on arrival, making the device difficult to understand for tourists, sometimes plunging them into difficulty.

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This announced reopening is not a surprise.

Authorities were under pressure from a bankrupt tourism sector and Moroccans stranded abroad to unblock borders closed since November 29 due to an outbreak of the Omicron variant.

On site, the vaccination pass is required

On site, the presentation of a vaccination pass is to date required in theory to move between prefectures and provinces, and access hotels, restaurants, cafes, shops or hammams in the Kingdom, where wearing a mask is compulsory.

The border closures have hit the tourism, hotel and catering industry hard, a vital sector for the kingdom's economy.

Despite the announcement of a tourism support plan of two billion dirhams (190 million euros), tourist operators demonstrated on Wednesday across the kingdom to demand the reopening of borders.

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“The people want the borders to reopen

,” chanted hundreds of protesters in Marrakech, the tourist capital, according to videos posted on Facebook.

If the peak of contaminations with the Omicron variant seems to have been reached during the week of January 17 to 23, according to the Ministry of Health, the authorities are nevertheless worried about an increase in cases in intensive care.

This article is subject to regular updates.

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