ONMT Governance: Shovel Dysfunction, according to the Advisers

A damning report on the National Tourist Office (ONMT) has just been spread. Developed by the House of Councilors and presented on July 17 in plenary, the report prepared by a commission set up by the upper house in December 2017, makes great case of a multitude of malfunctions of the institution on the period of activity 2010-2017. As it carries out a progress report at 18 months of the deadline of the governmental vision for the tourism 2011-20 whose rate of realization does not exceed the 40%.

The inquiry " on demand actors of Moroccan tourism "which, on many occasions, have lamented the management of the sector, puts on the index the string of studies commissioned by the Office and at costs" exorbitant " without their recommendations being implemented. In spite of several requests made to the ONMT, these studies were not transmitted to the Councilors, the report states.

The document also indicates that the advertising campaigns carried out by the Office coincide with the holiday periods which represent tourist peaks, while these operations must move towards slack periods. The report also points out that no evaluation is made retrospectively of the effectiveness of these promotional campaigns.

Like the Court of Auditors in 2015, the Chamber of Advisers' study also points to malfunctions in the management of the budget devoted to Moroccan participation in tourism fairs abroad where the costs of renting a stand have increased sharply. The authors of the report denounce " a disorder and mismanagement ."

The report also denounces the financial management of the establishment in view of the increase " unjustified " of certain costs. For example, the study refers to the rent of the office accommodation of the director general of the ONMT which is 50,000 dirhams. The rent of officials of delegations abroad is estimated at nearly 10 million dirhams a year.

The report also criticizes the Office the instability of its strategic visions, which remain dependent on the changes of officials, in addition to the lack of coordination and communication between the ONMT and its parent ministry. The decisions taken by the ONMT are made individually and without consultation, which is in contradiction with the law governing the Office. The organization does not consult industry professionals in decision-making and the development of sectoral strategies also points the report. The lack of coordination between the ONMT, the Moroccan Society for Tourism Engineering (SMIT) and RAM is also noted in the document.

Another shortcoming pointed out by the Chamber of Advisers, the lack of a stable budget dedicated to tourism promotion. Thus, it was planned that the Office could benefit, according to the vision 2020, from 300 MDH annual to implement this program. In fact, this budget has not exceeded half the amount planned. Promotion spending in general between marketing, advertising and partnership programs hardly exceeds 1.5% of total tourism receipts, while international standards are around 3%.

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