Beginning on June 15, 2021, the Government of Morocco will once again allow international passengers to fly in and out of the country’s airports. While the main purpose is to allow Moroccans living abroad to vacation in Morocco during the summer, the rules also allow non-Moroccan citizens to enter Morocco if they have a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test taken 48 hours before departure. Within these restrictions, tourists from certain countries are now allowed to visit Morocco once more. Foreign and Moroccan travel agencies may soon organize Jewish heritage tours again.
This photo of Royal Air Maroc is courtesy of Tripadvisor
The policy creates two lists of countries. Travel is open to residents of countries with positive indicators with regard to the control of the epidemiological situation, in particular the spread of variants of the virus. Travel is restricted for residents of other countries which are experiencing a spread of COVID variants or cannot provide precise statistics on the epidemiological situation.
The list of countries whose residents are restricted from flying to Morocco, as of June 6, includes: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Congo (DRC), Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Eswatini, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lesotho, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Uganda, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Central African Republic, People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North), Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Chad, Thailand, Togo, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. You can find the current list of these countries here.
The Government of Morocco has been able to open its borders to international flights due to positive indicators of the epidemiological situation, increased vaccination and a decrease in the number of COVID 19 cases. From the beginning of the pandemic to June 6, 2021, Morocco had a total of 522,389 COVID cases and 9,190 deaths. 9,354,932 Moroccans received the first dose of the vaccine, while 6,687,738 Moroccans received two doses. The total population of Morocco was estimated to be 36,910,558 in 2020.
Building on the Abraham Accords of December 2020 and the movement towards full diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel, the Israeli airline Israir has announced that it will initiate direct flights between Tel Aviv and Marrakesh on July 19, 2021, five times per week. The new Moroccan air travel policy will now make these flights possible and perhaps lead to more flights to other Moroccan cities.