As the French saying goes “Le malheur des uns fait le Bonheur des autres” (which may translate to: one man’s loss is another man’s gain), Morocco’s tourism sector is indirectly benefiting from Kenya’s last bloodshed, including a terrorist attack in a tourist resort south of Diani last January 1st, and those of last year’s gunmen storming a shopping center in Nairobi, killing 67 civilians.
Kenyatta International Conference Center’s acting managing director, Fred Simiiya, was caught saying that, generally, “event planners are much less likely to travel to Kenya following recent events, whether the perceived risk is real risk or not”.
According to him, Planners “are a lot more risk averse nowadays and there is much more due diligence at a senior level. Planners are considering destinations that offer a similar experience to Kenya without the perception of risk.”
Fred Simiiya added that countries like Morocco, South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana will attract more attention than Kenya. Those are the actual high rated countries for event planners.
Worthy mentioning that the Moroccan tourism sector is benefiting also from the Arab spring “ravage” of typical touristic destination in North Africa, including Tunisia, Egypt and Lybia.
Well, “Le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres”.
The Moroccan Times.
