Monday resulted in an unprecedented rush at Moroccan airports and airline counters! Yesterday morning, the date of the reopening of air borders, the MohammedV Casablanca international airport was almost full.
Moroccans residing abroad, foreign residents stranded in Morocco, tourists, students, businessmen, patients requiring follow-up, health checks,or treatment abroad, elderly people... Both in the departure and in the arrival areas, the typology of travelers is quite cosmopolitan and plural. On Monday morning, the resumption of flight programs took place in the presence of the Minister of Health, the leaders of the National Airports Authority (ONDA), the Head Governor of the Greater Casablanca area, and other senior officials (Royal Gendarmerie, Moroccan national police, Civil Protection, Customs, Auxiliary Forces...)
According to our teams of reporters on site, the instructions are firm, and the police is closely monitoring the strict compliance with health instructions. It must be said that the context is rather favorable to the reopening of borders. For the second week in a row, the decline of the Omicron wave continues at the national level, at a rapid speed, said on Monday, Mouad Merabet, the coordinator of the National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
As far as ONDA airports authority is concerned, it has implemented its arrangements for incoming flights and passengers at all airports. Indeed, ONDA has implemented a detailed plan broken down into several measures to maketravel as agile as possible while taking maximum precautions.
It should be recalled that a few days ago, the government unveiled a series of legal measures and provisions relating to the management of the state of health emergency.
Amine Rboub
International standards: “We are not aligned”!
Following the reopening of the sky, «the main subject at issue is the protocol for access to the national territory». Today, according to a tourism and hospitality industry player, the observation is that “the protocol put in place by the authorities is not aligned with international best practices. It is a state of mind that does not reassure us as to the possibility of a potential return to border closure and other measures of the kind. This tourism player adds: «At a time when several countries are disarming significantly and in a thoughtful way and when our hospitals are empty and our statistics exceptional..., the risk is clearly not carried by our foreign visitors who are tested and vaccinated. If there is a risk, it is rather purely a Moroccan one since the percentage of people in Morocco having taken the 3rd jab is only 12%, so the onus is on us». Moreover, carrying out systematic antigen tests and random PCRs makes no sense. «Vaccines and PCR tests of less than 48 hours are worth nothing. It is a serious matter and a contradictory requirement», complains the same source. Moreover, at a time when, precisely, the public authorities are mobilized to try to fill the gap... the messages that we send to travelers remain vague, even distorted, adds a professional from the travel industry. «At the end of the day, we only require one thing: alignment with international standards. Such measures implemented by the Moroccan government would be more readable by all, more coherent, and less costly for our fellow citizens and our economy in general».
