Like many of its neighbors, Morocco has a long-term tourism development strategy and has recently highlighted its flexibility by introducing a new program to follow its current tourism plan, called “Vision 2010.” That plan, kicked off in 2001 to chart development over 10 years, has been largely successful, but is nearing its conclusion. Now, the government has launched “Cap 2009” to retool the sector’s objectives and pump cash into the market in preparation for the upcoming launch of the “Vision 2020” development program. Taken together, the two plans aim to boost arrival numbers, upgrade infrastructure and increase the quality of human resources. While Vision 2010 may fall short of its initial target of 10 million tourists by 2010, particularly given current economic conditions, the number of tourists rose 69 percent between 2001 and 2007, and another 7 percent from 2007 to 2008, bringing the total arrivals to almost 8 million.
