Morocco-Vision 2010

Vision 2010 is the country’s tourism development plan initiated in 2001. The plan has been designed into a framework of agreements between the government and the country’s leading sectors, with a set of key objectives including increasing the number of visitors each year to reach 10 million by 2010.
Vision 2010 is also a powerful tool to start development by upgrading the country’s infrastructure, boosting investment, employment, income distribution and education levels within the population.
Clear objectives based on figures: The defined objectives are very ambitious both in terms of quantity and in terms of quality. The plan has set the goal of achieving the following figure based objectives:
10 million arrivals per year, including 7 million international tourists
Hotel capacity creating a further 160.000 beds, divided between cultural destinations and seaside resorts
Investment volumes to reach between 8 and 9 billion Euros, (tourist resorts, infrastructure, hotel trade and entertainment)
Tourism is expected to generate 48 billion Euros
600.000 new jobs
Contribution of tourism to the GDP to rise annually by an average of 8.5%, bringing it to around 20% by the year 2010
The six fundamental building sites: The “Plan Azur” aims at the creation of six new seaside resorts on six priority sites.
Mediterrania-Saidia – This is the only Plan Azur resort on the Mediterranean coastline
Port Lixus – Situated near Larache on the northern Atlantic coast
Mazagan – Situated near El Jadida on the Atlantic coast, south of Casablanca
Mogador Essaouira –Situated within 3 kilometres of the mythical beach town of Essaouira , this resort is perfectly placed to become the premier beach destination for Marrakech holiday makers
Taghazout – A $2 billion tourism infrastructure project near Agadir on the southern Atlantic coast
Plage Blanche – Master Development rights were recently awarded to the main master developer of Mediterrania-Saidia
The creation of new tourism areas by the Tourism Department has also started, including improvements on existing destinations such as Fez, Casablanca, Agadir, Tangier and Tetouan.

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Cape Verde Economic Growth

Economy
The Cape Verde Islands have enjoyed ongoing economic growth over the past decade with an average GDP increase of 8.3% per annum, between 1997 and 2001. This trend has continued through the new millennium with constant annual growth.
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
GDP Real % Growth 3.5% 5.5% 4.7% 5% 6.4% 10.90% 7%
Tourism and related investments in the construction sector have heavily impacted on the country’s economic growth, as Cape Verde’s structural advantages are its location and climate.
According to the nation’s Minister of Economy, 1 billion dollars of investment flooded into the country in 2007. Italy, Spain, Portugal, England and Ireland more recently contributed to this influx. Direct private investment surpassed public aid for development and funds sent by immigrants made up one of the foundations of the nation’s growth.
In July 2008, Cape Verde became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), nearly nine years after it started entry negotiations. Joining the WTO will provide a strong boost to the countries credibility and integration into the world economy.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts for 2008 show that this trend is set to continue; according to the IMF, a “robust growth of seven to eight per cent should continue this year.” Government priorities for 2008 are the consolidation of the archipelago’s economic stability, the improvement of its public sector financial management and the acceleration of its energy sector reform.

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Morocco the new Emerging Markets

THE ECONOMY
The year 2006 proved to be a prosperous one for the Moroccan kingdom, with real GDP reported at 46 billion euros growing some 7.3%. Average economic growth was 4.7% between 2001 and 2006, compared with 3% to 3.5% in the 1990s. Morocco was ranked 59th in world rankings for GDP out of 181 countries by the International Monetary Fund. The service sector is the key to the economy accounting for 55.5% of the overall GDP, increasing from 49.9% in 1990.
There is also an undeniable improvement in Moroccans’ standard of living, evidenced by a surge in car sales and mortgages. The state planning commission (HCP) recently announced that the number of jobless people in Morocco – a country of 30 million – had just dropped below the one-million mark for the first time in 13 years. Officially, unemployment now stands at 7.7% of the active population, as opposed to 11.1% a year ago, this level is similar to most western economies. Around the same time, Finance Minister Fathalah Oualalou declared the number of people living in extreme poverty – surviving on less that one dollar a day – had fallen to 14% in 2005, or 4.2 million people, from 16.5% in 1997.

Good rains in 2006 produced growth in the agricultural sector, which remains key to the Moroccan economy, though competition from Egypt and Turkey is increasing in that sector. Mining and other energy activity slowed, however, with less refining and electricity production. Construction continued to show strong growth based on infrastructure upgrades, foreign investment and tourism developments, while the stock exchange registered healthy growth over 2005, particularly in the real estate sector. Increasing consumer demand is also driving growth in construction-related industries.

Tourism, transport and telecoms all registered strong growth in 2006 as well. Growing consumer demand in the domestic market has been helping to boost the economy, due in part to higher rural productivity and a tightening job market. Confidence in the local market has also grown, with a substantial increase in consumer credit. Both foreign and local investment continued to rise in certain sectors and unemployment fell as more jobs were created in the service, construction and industry sectors.
Exports rose to Turkey and the US, as Morocco has free trade agreements with the two countries. The government also took measures to decrease the numbers of civil service employees in 2006, introducing voluntary retirement and making fiscal reforms, including the new Finance Law, thus improving efficiency while also investing heavily in infrastructure and other projects.
Tax collection also improved. Revenues from privatisation and state-owned monopolies fell short of projections however and reduced tariffs also resulted in less revenue, although government revenues improved overall. The authorities have also taken measures to improve transparency and the availability of financial data to further encourage investors.
Growth is expected to continue under the Vision 2012 programme, as agriculture becomes less important and other sectors, industry in particular, are expected to become stronger. Energy and mining activities are likely to bounce back in 2007, though overall growth should slow somewhat.
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