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A partnership agreement was signed, on July 16, 2021, between the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts, Air Transport, and Social Economy, the Wilaya of the Region of Souss Massa, the Council of Souss Massa Region and the Moroccan agency for tourism development (SMIT), for the development and the implementation of the infrastructures project for the Aghroud tourist area  This partnership was concluded during the working visit to the city of Agadir made byout by Mrs. Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Tourism, Handicrafts, Air Transport and Social Economy and Mr. Imad Barrakad, Director General of SMIT.

Within the framework of an advanced regionalization, this agreement comes with an innovative strategic partnership approach that include where mutual efforts will be made for the development of tourism which has been defined as a shared competence by organic law n ° 111-14 relating to Regions. The partnership is therefore  based on the one hand on shared financing between the SMIT (a government  tool for the development of tourist investment) and the Region (territorial development tool) and on the other hand on the delegation by the SMIT on the management of the development and equipment of the Aghroud zone by a local entity in the form of a regional development company.

During the government visit directed by the Head of Government in 2018, the Wali of the Souss Massa Region announced the Aghroud area project as a structuring project of the tourism development plan for the Agadir destination.

Since this announcement, and in its role of initiating tourism investment, SMIT has taken the initiative to prepare the launch of this project. In partnership with the Wilaya, the Directorate of Domains and the Interior and Tourism Departments meticulous work has been done to clean up the land.

 Indeed, in a close collaboration with local (Wilaya, Region, Urban Agency, etc.) and central (Tourism and Regional Planning departments) partners, SMIT undertook in 2019, a study on the development of the master plan for the tourist area of ​​Aghroud. In addition, through its engineering mission, SMIT carried out the financial structuring of the project and led the negotiations for the fund raising from partners in a very difficult context of budgetary restrictions caused by the health crisis.

Thus, the object of the partnership, aims to finance and carry out the development and the implementation of the necessary infrastructure for the tourist development of the Aghroud siteon land belonging to SMIT with an area of ​​594ha, with the aim of to accelerate the construction of infrastructures in order to offer to  future private investors aplots of land equipped with the necessary tools  for the development of accommodation units and tourist activities.

This project responds to the need for tourist growth in the Agadir destination ,by providing it with new land bases for private tourist development, which will ensure a stronger tourist economy in accordance with the Royal Guidelines to make the Region of Souss Massa an economic pole in the center of Morocco exploiting its resources and its wealth.

A total public investment of 1.5 billion dirhams will be mobilized by the Project partners, namely SMIT and the Region. The execution of this project will be entrusted to a new local structure to be created by the partners in the form of a dedicated Regional Development Company designated by RDC “Aghroud Aménagement” to which SMIT will delegate the site development mission. This RDC will initially have a share capital of 10 MDH to be borne by the partners.

Beyond the development component of the Aghroud site, the project will relate to the upgrading and the enhancement of two villages located at the level of the Aghroud site as well as the construction of high-potential entertainment equipment to support  the tourist attractiveness improvment of the Aghroud site (Corniche, theme parks, entertainment facilities, etc.).

The pace of investment in the destination is losing momentum (ranked 4th destination in terms of tourist investment behind Marrakech, Casablanca and Tangier), a situation that is likely to get worse with the context of the health crisis. This major investment project, in the Aghroud area, comes at the right time to restore confidence in the tourism sector and to support the revival of the investment dynamic. This project will have a great impact on the development of the Region by allowing it to induce a significant investment dynamic (more than 5 billion dirhams of private investment), the creation of a hotel capacity of more than 10,000 beds and the consolidation of the tourist entertainment offer as well as the creation of approximately 6,000 new direct jobs.

The Moroccan Agency for Tourism development “SMIT” informs the tourism Accommodation Institutions about the launch of the Call for Expression of Interest (AMI) to benefit from the state financial support.

Tourist Accommodation Institutions can download the AMI file by pressing the below button or collect the AMI  from the Moroccan agency for tourism development’ offices

To access to the support, You can submit your file  on the SMIT website, from  March 15, 2022

On July 2021 A partnership agreement was signed, between the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts, Air Transport and Social Economy, the Wilaya of the of Souss Massa Region, the Council of the Region Souss Massa and the Moroccan Agency for Tourism development (SMIT) for the implementation of the support program to develop the tourism SMEs in the Souss-Massa Region, this was agreed during the working visit to the city of Agadir, carried out by Mrs. Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Tourism, Handicrafts, Air Transport and Social Economy and Mr. Imad Barrakad, Director General of SMIT.

This agreement comes with an innovative approach of strategic partnership with the Regions, by pooling efforts for the development of tourism that has been defined as a shared competence by Organic Law No. 111-14 relating to the Regions. The approach is based on the first hand on a joint financing of the support program for the tourist SMEs and on the other hand on the execution of the program by a local incubator that will be created as a company of the regional development .

In accordance with the high royal orientations to make the VSE/SME a key factor of the economic growth, the SMIT has engaged, in 2020, some engineering works for the conception of a national program of support to the development of the tourist VSE/SME. This programme was launched by considering the development needs of the tourism product in the various regions (in urban and rural areas), by developing a bank of projects based on a dozen industries and a segmentation between VSEs and small and medium-sized enterprises, and by defining the support mechanisms needed to accompany project leaders and ensure the profitability and sustainability of their investments.

The engineering of the SMIT allowed to have a national vision which enabled to raise the financing of this programme and these despite a difficult context of budgetary restrictions due to the sanitary crisis and which has been materialized by the signature of an agreement with the two ministries of Tourism and Finance.

This support program provides targeted support mechanisms that meet the development needs of SMEs, namely (i) investment support in the form of a bonus ranging from 10 to 50% of the investment amount depending on the product and the degree of innovation, (ii) technical advice and expertise by covering up to 90% of the cost of studies, advice,and expertise by covering up to 90% of the cost of studies, consulting, technical assistance and training and (iii) support (tourism engineering) via the establishment of a digital platform dedicated to SMEs (presentation of tourism ecosystems, presentation of the project bank by ecosystem and by sector, advice, guidance and support for SMEs for the development of their tourism projects). 

The signed partnership comes to concretize and deploy the support program forthe SMEs at the lRegional  Souss Massa level, it will alsocontribute to the revival of the dynamics of investment after years of decline and to mitigate the effects of the health crisis on the pace of development of the destination Agadir.

A total public investment of 100 million dirhams will be allocated to this support program, it will be financed in equal parts by the SMIT and the Council of the Souss Massa Region. The deployment of this mechanism will be assigned to a new local structure, that will be created by  partners in the form of a dedicated Regional Development Company. This RDC, initially granted with a share capital of 04 MDH to be carried by the partners, will play the role of regional incubator for the implementation of the mechanism.  

This mechanism support is proposed for projects promoters in the various tourist sectors (Accommodation, Leisure, Catering, Well-Being, Sports, tourist transport) but also to the one promoting sectors focused on animation and innovative projects. the objective is to enrich and densify the entertainment offer of the destination. The operationalization of this mechanism will have a great impact on the revitalization of tourist investment and consequently on the socio-economic development of the Region by making it possible to attract new investors in the form of tourist SME with the objective of creating 150 tourists SMEs and more than 600 new direct jobs.