Morocco plans to expand its hotel capacity by 60,000 beds, equal to about a fifth of its current total, by the time the country co-hosts the 2030 World Cup, its tourism minister said.
The North African country is riding a wave of publicity from its quarter-final run in the latest World Cup after becoming the first African and Arab side to reach the semi-finals in Qatar four years ago.
Officials want to leverage the renewed attention into lasting gains for the country’s tourism industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of Moroccans and contributes about 7% of gross domestic product.
“We see the 2030 FIFA World Cup as an accelerator, not an end in itself,” Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor told Reuters.
The government is investing more than 190 billion dirhams (about $20 billion) to build and expand rail, road, airports, stadiums and other urban infrastructure ahead of the 2030 tournament, where Morocco is one of three main co-hosts with Portugal and Spain.
The number of matches each of them will host has yet to be decided.
