First modification:
In Marrakech, the tourist capital of Morocco, protests have been the order of the day for the last month. Morocco’s borders have been closed for almost two years and this has caused an unprecedented crisis for workers in the tourism sector, the city’s economic engine. Faced with pressure from the streets, the Government of Morocco has announced the reopening of borders as of February 7.
According to data from the Regional Association of Hoteliers of Marrakech, of a total of 250 registered hotels, almost 50% are closed. Around 200 restaurants, 250 travel agencies, 40 entertainment and entertainment establishments, 900 tour guides and 460 artists have seen their activity ceased. Artisans, merchants, taxi drivers, workers in hotel establishments and tourist transport, professionals in the hospitality industry, culture… They have been unemployed for two years. And most do not receive state aid.
Dependence on tourism is a reality in the red city and the economic crisis has also affected non-tourist establishments. Mouna Rahimi is the pharmacist in the Bab Laqsour neighborhood. She has been at the forefront of the protests and is a very active person in the medina. She explains that the neighbors do not have money to buy medicine: “There is no purchasing power. People are sick, but they don’t have money for medicine.” “The bazaarista works with the taxi driver, with the carrier, with the telephone operator, with the juice vendor… One depends on the other,” she explains.
The streets of the medina are completely empty and there are hardly any open bazaars. Among the few remaining vendors is El Haj Mohamed, owner of a small shop selling local textiles. He assures that he opens the store to not be at home: “A few of us get together here to kill time.” “I hope they don’t close again in two or three months…we are tired of closing so much.”
Abdelillah Belmoukkadam also has a family bazaar where he has worked all his life. Today he is going through an economic crisis like he never says he has experienced before. Like so many others, he is desperate: “I don’t have anything to eat. If someone comes I sell them 2,000 dirhams ($180) items for 500 dirhams ($45)…”
Like Abdelillah, many workers in the sector are totally ruined. This is the case of Azzedine and her companions, workers at the Hotel Mogador. For months they have been living in the protest camp that they have set up at the doors of the establishment. In the midst of a pandemic, the owners closed it and left the staff without compensation. “We do this for the rights that are violated, for our right to return to work or receive our compensation.”
The famous deserted Jamaa El Fnaa square reflects the agony that Marrakech is going through, a city made for tourism that awaits the arrival of visitors and a definitive reopening of borders this time.
First modification:
In Marrakech, the tourist capital of Morocco, protests have been the order of the day for the last month. Morocco’s borders have been closed for almost two years and this has caused an unprecedented crisis for workers in the tourism sector, the city’s economic engine. Faced with pressure from the streets, the Government of Morocco has announced the reopening of borders as of February 7.
According to data from the Regional Association of Hoteliers of Marrakech, of a total of 250 registered hotels, almost 50% are closed. Around 200 restaurants, 250 travel agencies, 40 entertainment and entertainment establishments, 900 tour guides and 460 artists have seen their activity ceased. Artisans, merchants, taxi drivers, workers in hotel establishments and tourist transport, professionals in the hospitality industry, culture… They have been unemployed for two years. And most do not receive state aid.
Dependence on tourism is a reality in the red city and the economic crisis has also affected non-tourist establishments. Mouna Rahimi is the pharmacist in the Bab Laqsour neighborhood. She has been at the forefront of the protests and is a very active person in the medina. She explains that the neighbors do not have money to buy medicine: “There is no purchasing power. People are sick, but they don’t have money for medicine.” “The bazaarista works with the taxi driver, with the carrier, with the telephone operator, with the juice vendor… One depends on the other,” she explains.
The streets of the medina are completely empty and there are hardly any open bazaars. Among the few remaining vendors is El Haj Mohamed, owner of a small shop selling local textiles. He assures that he opens the store to not be at home: “A few of us get together here to kill time.” “I hope they don’t close again in two or three months…we are tired of closing so much.”
Abdelillah Belmoukkadam also has a family bazaar where he has worked all his life. Today he is going through an economic crisis like he never says he has experienced before. Like so many others, he is desperate: “I don’t have anything to eat. If someone comes I sell them 2,000 dirhams ($180) items for 500 dirhams ($45)…”
Like Abdelillah, many workers in the sector are totally ruined. This is the case of Azzedine and her companions, workers at the Hotel Mogador. For months they have been living in the protest camp that they have set up at the doors of the establishment. In the midst of a pandemic, the owners closed it and left the staff without compensation. “We do this for the rights that are violated, for our right to return to work or receive our compensation.”
The famous deserted Jamaa El Fnaa square reflects the agony that Marrakech is going through, a city made for tourism that awaits the arrival of visitors and a definitive reopening of borders this time.
First modification:
In Marrakech, the tourist capital of Morocco, protests have been the order of the day for the last month. Morocco’s borders have been closed for almost two years and this has caused an unprecedented crisis for workers in the tourism sector, the city’s economic engine. Faced with pressure from the streets, the Government of Morocco has announced the reopening of borders as of February 7.
According to data from the Regional Association of Hoteliers of Marrakech, of a total of 250 registered hotels, almost 50% are closed. Around 200 restaurants, 250 travel agencies, 40 entertainment and entertainment establishments, 900 tour guides and 460 artists have seen their activity ceased. Artisans, merchants, taxi drivers, workers in hotel establishments and tourist transport, professionals in the hospitality industry, culture… They have been unemployed for two years. And most do not receive state aid.
Dependence on tourism is a reality in the red city and the economic crisis has also affected non-tourist establishments. Mouna Rahimi is the pharmacist in the Bab Laqsour neighborhood. She has been at the forefront of the protests and is a very active person in the medina. She explains that the neighbors do not have money to buy medicine: “There is no purchasing power. People are sick, but they don’t have money for medicine.” “The bazaarista works with the taxi driver, with the carrier, with the telephone operator, with the juice vendor… One depends on the other,” she explains.
The streets of the medina are completely empty and there are hardly any open bazaars. Among the few remaining vendors is El Haj Mohamed, owner of a small shop selling local textiles. He assures that he opens the store to not be at home: “A few of us get together here to kill time.” “I hope they don’t close again in two or three months…we are tired of closing so much.”
Abdelillah Belmoukkadam also has a family bazaar where he has worked all his life. Today he is going through an economic crisis like he never says he has experienced before. Like so many others, he is desperate: “I don’t have anything to eat. If someone comes I sell them 2,000 dirhams ($180) items for 500 dirhams ($45)…”
Like Abdelillah, many workers in the sector are totally ruined. This is the case of Azzedine and her companions, workers at the Hotel Mogador. For months they have been living in the protest camp that they have set up at the doors of the establishment. In the midst of a pandemic, the owners closed it and left the staff without compensation. “We do this for the rights that are violated, for our right to return to work or receive our compensation.”
The famous deserted Jamaa El Fnaa square reflects the agony that Marrakech is going through, a city made for tourism that awaits the arrival of visitors and a definitive reopening of borders this time.
First modification:
In Marrakech, the tourist capital of Morocco, protests have been the order of the day for the last month. Morocco’s borders have been closed for almost two years and this has caused an unprecedented crisis for workers in the tourism sector, the city’s economic engine. Faced with pressure from the streets, the Government of Morocco has announced the reopening of borders as of February 7.
According to data from the Regional Association of Hoteliers of Marrakech, of a total of 250 registered hotels, almost 50% are closed. Around 200 restaurants, 250 travel agencies, 40 entertainment and entertainment establishments, 900 tour guides and 460 artists have seen their activity ceased. Artisans, merchants, taxi drivers, workers in hotel establishments and tourist transport, professionals in the hospitality industry, culture… They have been unemployed for two years. And most do not receive state aid.
Dependence on tourism is a reality in the red city and the economic crisis has also affected non-tourist establishments. Mouna Rahimi is the pharmacist in the Bab Laqsour neighborhood. She has been at the forefront of the protests and is a very active person in the medina. She explains that the neighbors do not have money to buy medicine: “There is no purchasing power. People are sick, but they don’t have money for medicine.” “The bazaarista works with the taxi driver, with the carrier, with the telephone operator, with the juice vendor… One depends on the other,” she explains.
The streets of the medina are completely empty and there are hardly any open bazaars. Among the few remaining vendors is El Haj Mohamed, owner of a small shop selling local textiles. He assures that he opens the store to not be at home: “A few of us get together here to kill time.” “I hope they don’t close again in two or three months…we are tired of closing so much.”
Abdelillah Belmoukkadam also has a family bazaar where he has worked all his life. Today he is going through an economic crisis like he never says he has experienced before. Like so many others, he is desperate: “I don’t have anything to eat. If someone comes I sell them 2,000 dirhams ($180) items for 500 dirhams ($45)…”
Like Abdelillah, many workers in the sector are totally ruined. This is the case of Azzedine and her companions, workers at the Hotel Mogador. For months they have been living in the protest camp that they have set up at the doors of the establishment. In the midst of a pandemic, the owners closed it and left the staff without compensation. “We do this for the rights that are violated, for our right to return to work or receive our compensation.”
The famous deserted Jamaa El Fnaa square reflects the agony that Marrakech is going through, a city made for tourism that awaits the arrival of visitors and a definitive reopening of borders this time.