Ability and Social Status within the Tourism Industry in Morocco

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         Whether you believe it or not we have been treated like royalty here. We have experienced luxuries that are not afforded to everyone or even few.  To start, we have the resources to do a study abroad and fly to Morocco. We have spent nights in hotels, we have professors translating and co-creating knowledge with us and let’s not forget the luxury tent and showers in the Sahara Desert. We sit in an air conditioned bus writing blog post and responses with internet access, learning from top notch tour guides that want nothing more than to share their country and cultures of their country while keeping the our safety in the forefront.  Constantly counting our heads and exclaiming “The blonde, the blonde…I can’t leave the blonde in the desert it will be the end of me” as Katie and Hayley wrapped up a grocery excursion. Truly this list could go on but no matter how much of a financial strain this trip is on you or your family, we are exhibiting a social status that many envy and dream of. 

        While tourism only makes up about 7% of the GDP, in 2018 that meant 550,000 direct jobs, 5% of employment,  89 billion in revenue generation and a budget of 860 million (OECD iLibrary, 2022). In conversation with Hamid he shared that while tourism only makes up 7% it is a portion of the economy that fuels the other commerce in the country. Things such as transportation, craftsmanship, hotel, restaurants are services and products that reap the rewards of tourism. Morocco’s air borders reopened after February of this year. It had been closed throughout the pandemic. During this time no tourism existed and many places shut down.  142,000 business suspended operations, 550,000 jobs were lost and exports decreases drastically (Abbouzzohour, 2020). It is said that one shop will feed six families (Africa News, 2022). Certainly this depends on the shop and the products but with this in mind it places a different spin on hearing “American American” from shopkeepers. Especially considering that people have lost jobs, shops have closed or suspended and borders closed or external resources to enter the country.

        Based on the work of Heifetz, adaptive leadership focuses on the activities of a leader and the work in which the followers find themselves (Northouse, 2016). When situational challenges occur, such as Covid, then the leaders exhibit various behaviors including getting on the balcony, identifying adaptive challenges, regulate distress, maintain disciplined attention, give the work back to the people and protect leadership voices from below in order to maintain some elements of structure within the environment (Northouse, 2016). Covid presented an adaptive challenge in the sense that there was no prescription to solving challenges from a political, economic or health stand point. We saw this as each country, state, school and household created new safety regulations in hopes that their methods were the best decision for their people. Morocco chose an adaptive change for the economy when closing the borders which meant closing down tourism and impacting the hundreds of thousands of individuals who depend on this income. When opening the borders to welcome tourism back, the Moroccan government was able to give work back to the people to regain power over their own work/life decisions.

        Who holds the power or status in tourism? Is it the individuals or countries with the desirable culture and resources, is it the individuals with the resources choosing to travel to countries, is it the countries themselves or something/someone else? I think as long as good intention and exploitation avoidance exist on either side of tourism then it benefits many while different the ability and status in different situations. How will you use your influence of status and financial ability to become a steward to what you have learned? What elements of this study abroad/tourist experience is well beyond financial impact but has become a deeply rooted emotional/mental shift? What part of the experience helped you move up the scale of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) scale?

Resources:

·         Abbouzohour, Y. (2020). Coping with Covid 19’s cost: the case of Morocco. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/research/coping-with-covid-19s-cost-the-example-of-morocco/?amp

·         Africa News (2022). Morocco:  Economy regains momentum as tourism returns. https://www.africanews.com/amp/2022/05/18/morocco-economy-regains-momentum-as-tourists-return/

·         Morocco. https://www.worldfinance.com/wealth-management/inspiring-a-tourism-revolution-in-morocco

·         Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership (7th ed.). SAGE.

·         OECD iLibrary (2022). Morocco:  Tourism in the economy. OECD Tourism Trends and Policies2020.https://www.oecdilibrary.org/sites/409d3fd2en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/409d3fd2-en

·         World Finance (2019). Inspiring a tourism revolution in Morocco. https://www.worldfinance.com/wealth-management/inspiring-a-tourism-revolution-in-morocco











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