Amsterdam – Morocco, as a fast-growing tourist destination, is generating strong interest among Dutch tour operators, said Director General of the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (ANVR), Frank Radstake, the largest professional organization in the sector in the Netherlands.
The 230 Dutch tourism professionals who took part in the ANVR’s annual congress held in Rabat on November 13-16 expressed great interest in Morocco and are highly enthusiastic about promoting this high-potential destination to their clients, Radstake said in an interview with MAP-Brussels.
The Dutch participants had the opportunity during their stay in Morocco to discover the Kingdom’s impressive hospitality, the many tourism opportunities the country has to offer, and the enormous diversity in travel potential, ANVR Director General pointed out.
“We were captivated by the beauty and cultural richness of the tourist cities we had the chance to visit during our stay in Morocco. I am convinced that we will see a vast increase in travelers to Morocco already next season,” he stressed.
Radstake also voiced ANVR’s intention to establish a commercial partnership with the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) to strengthen cooperation between Dutch and Moroccan tourism professionals and build a lasting relationship that promotes the development of tourism exchanges between the two countries.
“We would love for ONMT to become a destination business partner of ANVR so that we can use this as a start of a long and lasting relationship. I see a very interesting change in organizing a high level summit to Morocco in the years to come, so that we can continue to build on this wonderful contact that we now have,” he noted.
ANVR head also underlined that the annual congress in Rabat was an opportunity for participants to reflect on “400 years of connecting Morocco and The Netherlands” and to showcase Morocco’s tourism potential to Dutch travel agents and tour operators.
He said that the speakers provided valuable insights into the centuries-old ties between Morocco and the Netherlands, while offering an in-depth presentation of Morocco’s broad tourism offerings and its appeal to Dutch travelers.
Radstake noted that the choice of the Moroccan capital as the host city for the 2025 ANVR congress was part of a project originally planned for 2020, but which had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had been waiting ever since to find a new change to visit Morocco,” he said, adding that the choice of Rabat, which is increasingly establishing itself as an attractive tourist destination, was made in coordination with the ONMT.
ANVR Director General commended the fact that the objectives of the congress were fully achieved, as participants had the opportunity to discover a promising new destination and establish valuable connections during this major networking event, the largest for the Dutch travel industry.
He concluded by expressing his deep gratitude to the Moroccan partners for the “impeccable” organization of the annual congress. “They showed to be masters in organizational skills and hospitality,” Radstake said.
