How Morocco Travel Survived the Pandemic

Tourism was one of the sectors that have been hit hardest by the pandemic. Many travel companies have gone bankrupt and several professionals have lost their jobs. Morocco, which was once the first destination for tourists in Africa, has closed its borders. The situation was hard for families and everybody living from tourism. Though many companies have closed their doors, others have looked for alternatives to survive; one of them is Morocco Travel.

The company was created in 2017 by a young Berber man, called Mimoun. He was passionate about cultures and people and that was the main reason that drove him to tourism; therefore, he considered tourism as the best field to enrich his endeavor to discover cultures and people.

The company was specialized in private tours in Morocco and travelers can customize their trips. Within the tours, many off-the-beaten-path itineraries have been included and this was given a push to the company’s reputation. Since the first year, it started getting many travelers referred by their friends, families, or others.

From 2 lux cars in 2017, the company reached its peak in 2019 with 10 cars, 6 vans, and 3 mini-buses. The success of the company leads its CEO to get more loans from banks and invest money in buying more cars and recruiting highly qualified staff. However, no one has ever wondered that all that success will shut down soon.

Suddenly, in March 2020, Morocco announced that the borders will be closed. This shocked everybody, including big companies.  People started to ask questions: how do they will get paid? what to feed their families? … etc. For business owners, it is another story… how to pay their loans? What to do with their employees? and most importantly, how to keep their businesses alive?

Though many of the owners have drifted to other sectors like agriculture and industry, others invested their skills in favor of other companies. After a meeting organized 2 months after the announcement of the Pandemic, the Morocco Travel managerial team met to discuss the future of the company and what are the possible solutions to get out of the crisis.

The outcome of this meeting is to engage all the participants and provide consulting in tourism for other companies in Africa and Asia, in which tourism is still alive. During these two years, the team has worked with 15 companies in different countries, like Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, and Uganda.

Though the earnings weren’t as high as they should be, they paid parts of the loans and kept the team together for 2 hard years. However, the major outcome of this experience is the richness of working with others from different countries, and with different cultures. Learning about other African countries and discovering the ways to promote them and help companies increase their client’s portfolios was a big challenge.

Currently, all the staff of Morocco travel and the companies that have survived the pandemic opened their doors to travelers; however, this time with a precautious approach. Expanding a business needs more reflection, though all the signs go in your favor.