Product

The PDRT of Casablanca

Diagnosis

Apart from its status as an economic capital, present-day Casablanca is a business destination, with more than 70% of the whole tourist activity of such a destination. In addition, and given that it is equipped with the first existing ports and airports, the city is also taking interest in a short-stay tourism (circuits, cruises and airport stopovers ).

Over the first decade, Casablanca's capacity has known a low increase of the order of 1.469 beds, that is an annual average growth rate of almost 2% per year only. This capacity is highly oriented towards 4 and 5 star hotels (around 66% of the destination's capacity), but it remains relatively below the required standards intended for the Business clientele (the present clientele of the destination).

Moreover and in spite of the confirmed notoriety of the destination, the number of overnight stays at classified hotels in Casablanca has shown, in general over the last decade, almost a stagnation around 1 million overnight stays annually.

Tourist activities in Casablanca spread over the whole year and show a low seasonality with the most important values during the months of August and September, an assessment explained by the primacy of business tourism in this destination.

The predominance of inbound tourism is one of the characteristics of the tourist activity of Casablanca destination, with a market share fluctuating around 80%.During the year 2006, Europe remained the leading market of the destination, with a part of 53% of overnight stays concerning inbound tourism. The Arab countries are also considered as a strategic market, insofar as they reached a part of 21% of overnight stays in terms of inbound tourism in 2006.

Positioning

The ambition of the PDRT of Casablanca 2012 is to confirm this city as a business and short-stay destination within the framework of port and airport stopovers as well as to turn it progressively into a leisure destination. It will position itself gradually in order to become a multi-products destination by the year 2012:business, short-stay(circuits and cruises), business combined with City Break, pure City Break and leisure stays.

Target clienteles

In the short-term, this positioning aims to consolidate the existing business and short-stay clientele as well as to attract what is called business clientele combined with City Break. In the medium-term, Casablanca city would receive the clientele of pure City Break and leisure and finally in the long-term, the destination would develop the two niches existing today and which are still in their embryonic stages: health and hunting tourism.

Objectives by the year 2012

The quantified figures of Casablanca's PDRT are as follows:

• To pass from 1,2 million overnight stays in 2006 to 3 million ones in 2012;
• To increase the average length of stay from 2,1 days in 2006 to 3 days in 2012;
• To improve the hotels' occupancy rate from 55% in 2006 to 60% in 2012;
• To increase the tourist accommodation capacity from 10. 850 beds in 2006 to 20. 000 beds in 2012, which will permit the creation of 30. 000 jobs.

The action plan provides also for:

Casablanca's PDRT provides for the development of the constituent product according to the following axes:

• The development of a hotel offer which is diversified and of quality;
• The rehabilitation of the cultural spirit of Casablanca destination;
• The putting in place of infrastructures intended for conferences and trade shows;
• The transformation of Casablanca into an area of entertainment and continuous vitality;
• The improvement, in a global way, of the urban quality of the destination.

Financing

The investments necessary for the realization of the above mentioned projects are around 7,9 billion DH by the year 2012, including about 1,4 billion financed by the State and local authorities and the remaining 6,5 billion are financed by the private sector.

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