How did the many Swiss visitors in Morocco get home?

Whether in the north, in the south, in the mountains, in the imperial cities or on the coasts, on foot or in camper vans, more than 2,000 Swiss people were in Morocco when the borders were closed, a measure taken in the fight against Covid-19. Swiss people who, in the vast majority of cases, wanted and needed to return home. Thus, from 16 March to 11 April, a vast operation was set up by the teams of the Embassy of Switzerland in Rabat to help them, in coordination with the crisis centre of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in Bern. During this period, fourteen commercial flights, which required diplomatic authorisation, and two repatriation flights, commissioned and organised by the Embassy, enabled more than 2,000 Swiss as well as other European nationals to return to their countries from Marrakech, Agadir and Casablanca. From mid-March, “Morocco took rapid, clear, transparent and coordinated decisions to combat the spread of the virus”, says H.E. Guillaume Scheurer, Ambassador of Switzerland in Rabat, before continuing: “the primary mission for us was for the Embassy’s services to be operational 24/7, so as to be available to all our compatriots and to Swiss tourists who needed information and assistance.”

Operational 24 hours a day

Apart from the two repatriation flights, which required a particularly heavy workload, the Embassy’s services thus played a role of providing information, advice and liaison so that Swiss tourists could look for and find seats on commercial flights to Switzerland or major European cities. This information, regularly updated, was disseminated via the Embassy’s website, its Facebook page, the Ambassador’s Twitter account and by email to stranded Swiss nationals who had registered with the Embassy directly or through the “Travel Admin” application. When the lockdown was introduced, “the Embassy also had to reorganise itself in a way that complied with health prevention measures and protected our teams”, explains Mr Guillaume Scheurer.

Collective work

Throughout this operation, many Moroccan and Swiss stakeholders made their contribution: “It was thanks to collective work that we were able to act effectively. We worked very well with the Moroccan authorities, in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Tourism, but also the Directorate of Civil Aviation and the Wilayas, and even more intensively than in normal times. The relevant services helped us with diplomatic authorisations, but also with travel permits; once the lockdown was in place, Swiss nationals in the four corners of the Kingdom had to be able to reach the departure cities. The Embassy thus organised bus transfers between Marrakech and Casablanca airport on several occasions. Alongside the Moroccan authorities, our Honorary Consuls, Ms Zineb Kettani in Casablanca and particularly Mr Sami Zerelli in Marrakech, were heavily involved. We were also able to count on the Swiss community, which offered accommodation. We saw exceptional displays of solidarity. Companies linked to the aviation sector, such as Swissport, also supported us enormously”, says Mr Guillaume Scheurer.

In addition to the repatriations by air, which were the most numerous, special management and support were provided for the many Swiss caravanners in Morocco who wished to return home by ferry with their vehicles. “Exceptional solidarity between Embassies, in particular those of Italy, France and Spain, enabled them to return to Switzerland.”, concludes Mr Guillaume Scheurer, Ambassador of Switzerland in Rabat.

Regardless of the possibility of returning home, the FDFA will continue to provide support to people stranded around the world under consular protection, to which every Swiss citizen abroad is entitled in a situation of distress. The Embassy is in regular and direct contact by email with the few Swiss nationals still stranded in Morocco.