Morocco hopes for Israeli visitor boost after air services resume

Morocco hopes its improved ties with ­Israel and centuries-old Jewish history will help it offset some of the tourist trade it has lost to the global pandemic by bringing a surge of Israeli visitors once flights restart next month.

The two countries agreed in December to resume diplomatic ties and relaunch direct flights - part of a deal brokered by the US that also includes Washington's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.

"I was quite afraid to go previously, because it's an Arab country, even though I was told that tours there were fine. Now that there is peace, I think I can go without fear," said retired Israeli teacher Rivka Sheetrit, 69, who wants to see where her parents once lived and her forefathers were buried.

"When the skies reopen I plan to go." 

Morocco was home to one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities in North Africa and the Middle East for centuries until Israel's founding in 1948. As Jews fled or were expelled from many Arab countries, an estimated quarter of a million left Morocco for Israel from 1948 to 1964.

Today only about 3,000 Jews remain in Morocco, while hundreds of thousands of Israelis claim some Moroccan ancestry.

More than other countries in the region where the issue is often taboo, Morocco has sought in recent years to recognize the Jewish role in its history. In 2010, it launched a program to restore synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and heritage sites, and reinstated the original names of some Jewish neighborhoods.

Though the numbers of Israeli visitors are likely to be small compared to the total pre-coronavirus tourist flow to Morocco, it could help a sector battered by the pandemic.

Tourism Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui has said she expects 200,000 Israeli visitors in the first year following the resumption of direct flights. That compares to about 13 million yearly foreign tourists before the pandemic. Tourism revenue fell by 53.8% to 36.3 billion dirhams ($3.8 billion) in 2020.

In the pretty Moroccan port town of ­Essaouira, once home to a big Jewish community and still the location of several important shrines, tourism businesses are poised for a boost.

Though a small number of Israeli tourists already come to Morocco, many have been put off by the lack of direct flights and diplomatic ties. The head of the Israeli liaison office in Rabat, which reopened after the deal, said he expected flights to resume next month. "This is the main reason the number of Israeli tourists will increase significantly," said liaison chief David Govrin.