Morocco’s National Tourist Office (ONMT) seeks to attract 500,000 Chinese tourists per year, almost 5 times the current number of Chinese visitors to the kingdom.

In its strive to attract more Chinese tourists, Morocco’s tourism office has signed a partnership the leading Chinese tourism agency, C-Trip, on September 6th. The objective of the protocol of agreement signed between the two offices in Rabat is to make Morocco a considerable travel destination for the colossal number of Chinese tourists, which amounts to 150 million yearly travelers.

The General Director of ONMT, Adel El Faker, highlights the importance of this partnership, which he described as “solid”, in helping Morocco promote its tourism in China. He adds that the two agencies “have decided, as far as marketing is concerned, to co-invest to promote Morocco in China as a destination through online publicity campaigns as well as putting together a business strategy.”

The official goes on to say that this strategy extends for a period of three years with “clear growth objectives.”

The Chinese C-trip is one of the world’s largest travel agencies. Founded in 1999, the agency has a massive network of 1.2 million hotels spread in 200 destinations worldwide. Chinese clients can benefit from an array of services offered by the agency, such as flight and cruise tickets, accommodation, visas and so forth.

Morocco exempted Chinese tourists from visa requirements in June of 2016 following a visit of the Moroccan Monarch, Mohammed VI to China. The decision was announced by the Monarch to the Chinese president Xi Jinping during bilateral talks.