He told the weekly Cabinet meeting here that the number of tourists registered a 12 percent increase to 6.5 million last year. The Tourism Minister, who was quoted by Communication Minister and Government Spokesman Nabil Benabdellah at a press briefing, also predicted that the accommodation capacity of Morocco would exceed 214,000 beds by 2010.

That is the deadline set by the government for the country to record 10 million tourists according to an ambitious programme launched in recent years under the "Vision 2010" project. Douiri assured that by the year 2010, tourism would contribute nine percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide at least 510,000 jobs.