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Easter Holiday Revives Tourism Sector in Marrakesh

Marrakesh city. (Getty Images)
Marrakesh city. (Getty Images)
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Easter Holiday Revives Tourism Sector in Marrakesh

Marrakesh city. (Getty Images)
Marrakesh city. (Getty Images)

The percentage of reserved hotels in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh reached 83 percent during April, compared to 76 percent for the same month in 2018, according to statistics from the Morocco’s Tourism Observatory.

Hotel reservations in Marrakesh amounted to 894,000, an increase of seven percent compared to April 2017, representing 35.3 percent of the total reserved hotel rooms in Morocco during this period.

During the first four months of 2019, some 2.8 million tourists visited in Marrakesh.

The Observatory said the average stay for each tourist in the city was three nights.

Tens of thousands of Moroccan Jews throughout the world have chosen Marrakesh as their top destination during the Easter holidays a tourist source told Asharq Al-Awsat, noting that this has caused a boom in the city’s tourism sector.

He said Moroccan Jewish community had fully booked 15 hotels in Marrakesh on this occasion.

The source pointed out that Jewish visitors stayed at the city’s hotels for ten days. They visited a number of Jewish attractions, most notably the Chaim Pinto Synagogue in the city of Essaouira (west of Marrakesh), the David Oumushi Synagogue (south of Marrakesh) and Tomb of Rabbi Shlomo Bel Hensh in Ourika on the outskirts of Marrakesh.

Interior Ministry’s statistics revealed that Marrakesh airport received 44.3 percent of the total airport arrivals in Morocco and 37 percent of all tourists crossing the borders through all land, sea and air ports in April.

For the fourth consecutive year, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) has ranked Marrakesh as the best tourist destination in Africa. The TripAdvisor company has also named it as the world’s ninth most beautiful tourist city.

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Saudi Arabia Makes History with Adoption of Riyadh Treaty on Design Law

Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Makes History with Adoption of Riyadh Treaty on Design Law

Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has made history by uniting the 193 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to adopt the Riyadh Treaty on Design Law. This landmark achievement, realized after two decades of deliberation, underscores the Kingdom’s leadership in enhancing the global intellectual property system.

The announcement came at the conclusion of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty, a rare event for WIPO, which has not held a diplomatic conference outside Geneva for more than a decade. It was also the first such event hosted in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, representing the final stage of negotiations to establish an agreement aimed at simplifying and standardizing design protection procedures across member states.

Over the past two weeks, intensive discussions and negotiations among member states culminated in the adoption of the Riyadh Treaty, which commits signatory nations to a unified set of requirements for registering designs, ensuring consistent and streamlined procedures worldwide. The agreement is expected to have a significant positive impact on designers, enabling them to protect their creations more effectively and uniformly across international markets.

At a press conference held on Friday to mark the event’s conclusion, CEO of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem highlighted the economic potential of the new protocol.

Responding to a question from Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Suwailem noted the substantial contributions of young Saudi men and women in creative design. He explained that the agreement will enable their designs to be formally protected, allowing them to enter markets as valuable, tradable assets.

He also emphasized the symbolic importance of naming the convention the Riyadh Treaty, stating that it reflects Saudi Arabia’s growing influence as a bridge between cultures and a global center for innovative initiatives.

The treaty lays critical legal foundations to support designers and drive innovation worldwide, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s vision of promoting international collaboration in the creative industries and underscoring its leadership in building a sustainable future for innovators.

The agreement also advances global efforts to enhance creativity, protect intellectual property, and stimulate innovation on a broader scale.

This achievement further strengthens Saudi Arabia’s position as a global hub for groundbreaking initiatives, demonstrating its commitment to nurturing creativity, safeguarding designers’ rights, and driving the development of creative industries on an international scale.

The Riyadh Diplomatic Conference, held from November 11 to 22, was hosted by the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property and attracted high-ranking officials and decision-makers from WIPO member states.