House of Representatives Adopts Government Bill 30.20 Enacting Special Provisions on Contracts of Travels and Tourist Stay and Contracts of Air Transportation of Passengers
The House of Representatives adopted, on Wednesday, May 13th, 2020, Government bill 30.20 enacting special provisions on contracts of travels and tourist stay, and contracts of air transportation of passengers. The adoption took place in a plenary sitting chaired by the House’s Speaker Habib El Malki, with the participation of Minister of Tourism, Handicraft, Air Transportation, and Social Economy Nadia Fettah Alaoui.
In her presentation of the bill, the Minister highlighted that it comes amidst an extraordinary national and international context marked by the economic and social repercussions of COVID-19. The Minister also stressed the importance and timeliness of this bill. The latter represents the Government’s keenness to protect the enterprises operating in tourism and air transportation from bankruptcy, and to assist travel agencies, tourism institutions, and companies of tourist and air transport, who undergo financial, economic, and social hardships due to the current situation.
The Government bill enables the operators to refund their clients via vouchers for similar services at the same price. The bill aims to mitigate the effects of the disruption of economic activity on jobs through alleviating the pressure over the operators’ treasury, protecting the interests of creditors, especially clients, and promoting demand. The bill also aims at preserving the transaction value in Morocco by avoiding the expenditures expected to be discharged in foreign currency.
As part of the discussion of the bill, the deputies, representing parliamentary groups and caucus of the majority and opposition, noted that tourism and air transportation are of the economic sectors that were most touched by COVID-19. They also highlighted that handicraft and social economy had been severely affected by the outbreak of this pandemic.
In their statements, the deputies presented suggestions to revive tourism, which covered the stimulation of domestic tourism and the promotion of local products consumption. They also called for thinking about the post-crisis period through adopting a holistic approach to advance the sectors of tourism, handicrafts, social economy, and the other related sectors.
It should be noted that the provisions of this legislation are applicable for a specific period under particular conditions. In this respect, they cover the contracts of travels and tourist stay, and contracts of air transportation of passengers that were planned for the period between March 1st and September 30th, 2020 and canceled due to the outbreak of COVID-19.