The Moroccan tourism sector
Tourism is one of the major activities of the Moroccan economy. It represents about 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides more than 320'000 jobs. In 2006, the number of international arrivals came to 6.6 million, 12% more than 2005. Morocco is expecting 10 million tourists for 2010 and developed some ambitious plans: to double its hosting capacity and train more than 72'000 professionals in the tourism and hotel sectors. The Realm also build on improving environmental performances of its hosting structures and staff because, as highlighted by the environmental economic assessment of this sector (MESO study) that we conducted in 2008, the impact of the Moroccan tourism on environment is far from being negligible.
Action towards a sustainable tourism
Hopefully, measures can be taken to handle this situation. The implementation of an environmental approach is also favourable to the tourism industry development and will insure its viability. In order to concretise and support this process, the Department of Tourism, jointly with the Hotel Industry National Federation and sba proposed to design a guidance system based on environmental management in the hotel sector. Thus, targeted trainings, technical support and practical tools are developed and made available as part of this project. From October 23 to 25, 2008, the first step of this initiative took place in Marrakech: a Train-the-Trainers (ToT) session on Best Environmental Practices for the hotel industry.
Capacity building: Train-the-Trainers (ToT) and networking
The ToT session was dedicated two three profiles (for a total of 30 selected participants): environmental experts, professionals of the hotel industry (managers and technicians), as well as representatives of the tourism delegations from 10 Moroccan regions chosen for this project. The objective was to train the future trainers in the understanding of the eco-management and Eco-efficiency basic principles adapted to their professional domain. The application in the field of the BEP enabled then to test the acquired knowledge in a real and concrete context.
Thanks to the complementarities of the selected profiles , a regional competence network has been formed in order to implement efficiently best environmental practices in the Moroccan hotel sector: the ‘National competence network for Sustainable Tourism' (RTD) gather representatives of regional tourism delegations, university teachers as well as environmental consultants. The skills and know-how of these experts will be used to support the Moroccan hotels in the implementation of the BEP approach in their management systems.
Raising awareness campaign and technical seminars
The working groups who benefited from the ToT session has been asked to establish their own plan of action for the next steps of the project. Then, in a second stage started in May 2009, these new trainers launched regional raising awareness campaigns and organised technical seminars in order to train the participants in the concrete use of the BEP. Pilot regions selected for this new stage are Agadir-Ourzazate and Casablanca-Rabat-El Jadida.
In order to guide the new trainers in their activities, experts from sba conduct ad hoc missions in Morocco. During these missions, they can monitor the activities of the regional working group and supervise the technical seminars.
Objectives
- Increase awareness of the opportunities generated by investments in the environmental domain among the tourism industry stakeholders
- Inform the professionals of the tourism sector of the technical (BEP guide and case studies) and human (RTD network) resources provided in the framework of the pilot project
- Train the staff in hotels in the use of BEP
- Develop plans of action to implement environmental corrective measures in selected hotels
- Obtain concrete and figured results of the BEP application in about 20 hotels, results which will then enable the project spreading in other beneficiary regions
Perspectives
In the framework of technical seminars, various applications of the BEP have been initiated in different classes of hotels. In order to consolidate the results, a support will be provided by resource persons from the RTD Network and the Ministry of Tourism and Craft industry. The objective is to finalise, with the newly trained technicians, the audit reports, to formulate a plan of action with significant and priority measures, to have the hotel direction recognized the process and finally implement corrective measures. After that, case studies will be documented and distributed among other professionals in order to convince them of the benefits the BEP could provide them.
Moreover, in order to pursue the information and training campaigns, more awareness raising sessions and technical seminars will be organised in Northern Morocco during fall 2009.
Ecorismo Forum
The ECORISMO Forum took place on April 20th and 21st, 2010 in Morocco in Rabat
Co-organised and supported by the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism, sba, François-Tourisme-Consultants and many others prestigious partner, the ECORISMO Forum took place on April 20th and 21st, 2010 in Morocco in Rabat in the gardens of the Sofitel Rabat Jardin des Roses. This event was intended for the professionals of hotels, restaurants, campsites, local communities and tourism authorities. It aimed at bringing concrete and practical answers to their questions and needs vis-à-vis sustainable development, environmental protection (energy, water, management of the waste, etc.) and corporate social responsibility ( CSR).
For more information about Ecorismo Forum
Diploma of advanced studies en stratégie environnementale et enjeux économiques
