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This summer season is the first of its kind for Moroccans living abroad. Due to the global health crisis, many of them have to think twice before deciding on their yearly summer vacation in Morocco.
According to a survey conducted by C&O Marketing in partnership with Yabiladi, 8 Moroccans living abroad out of 10 had planned to spend their summer holidays in Morocco this year. However, the pandemic has changed their plans. Indeed, 54% of respondents said that they plan to visit Morocco once the borders are open.
The survey, carried out online between June 12 and 26, is based on the responses of 743 Moroccans living abroad. 77% of them are based in Europe and the rest (23%) in other parts of the world. The answers reveal that before the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic, 79% of the respondents said that they were planning to spend the summer in Morocco. 48% said they still want to return to Morocco as planned and 6% others said they wanted to return to the Kingdom although it was not initially part of their plan.
This group is part of the 21% of respondents who said that they were not planning to visit Morocco this summer, before the pandemic. Currently, only 15% of the interviewees said that they are not visiting Morocco this summer. Meanhile, 31% of respondents who planned holidays in Morocco for this summer have changed their minds.
64% of Moroccans living abroad plan to spend less than a month in Morocco
The survey reveals that Moroccans living in France, Spain and Italy are mostly interested in spending their summer vacations in Morocco (6 people out of 10). Men (59%) are also more likely to want to spend their holidays in Morocco than women (45%). Moroccans aged between 31 and 50 as well as workers, employees and retirees are more likely to want to spend their holidays in the country (64%).
64% of respondents who want to travel to Morocco plan to spend less than a month in the country, 25% others want to stay for one and two months and only 7% plan to exceed this duration. The average length of stay mentioned is 28 days, the study finds. Most respondents prefer to travel to Morocco in August.
In terms of expenses related to the planned stay in Morocco, 18% of respondents say they have a larger budget to spend, thanks to the savings made during the lockdown. This is particularly the case for 57% Moroccans living abroad who said that their holiday budget increased. On the other hand, 18% said that their budget for the summer holidays went down : 9 out of 10 blamed the health crisis.
The global health crisis and Moroccans living abroad
Among those not planning to come home this summer, the study reveals that 63% of them blamed Covid-19. While some of them mentioned concerns about the health situation, others said that they fear traveling during the post-Covid period. Others have only postponed their holidays due to financial reasons that came with the economic crisis.
The survey also asked Moroccans living abroad about the impact of this pandemic on Morocco. 79% of the respondents believe that the way in which Morocco has managed the Covid-19 crisis encourages them to spend holidays in the country this summer. However, 49% prefer to avoid eating out during this summer.
Surprisingly, 45% of respondents believe that this pandemic will encourage more Moroccans living abroad to invest in real estate in Morocco and 44% would be tempted to increase their remittances to Morocco. 29% of respondents support the idea that this pandemic could have an incentive impact on the final return of Moroccans living abroad to their country.
The survey indicates that the standard profile of the respondent is a 41-year-old male on average, married (2/3 of respondents) with 2 children. Most of them have a higher education (67%), half of them come from medium to higher socio-professional backgrounds (52%) while 4 out of 10 live in the three main countries with Moroccan diasporas : France, Spain and Italy.
