RABAT- Morocco's tourism promotion office ONMT and Ryanair signed a deal to launch 37 routes linking Moroccan tourist hubs to 45 European airports, the office said on Thursday.

The new routes will serve 10 Moroccan airports and help Ryanair increase seat capacity to Morocco destination this summer to 2.07 million passengers, up 54% from 2019 before the pandemic, ONMT said in a statement.

Recurrent border closures during the last two years have slammed the tourism sector.

Tourism generated $8 billion, or 7% of Morocco's economy, in 2019, when the country received 13 million tourists. In 2021, tourism revenue dropped to $3.5 billion.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Mark Porter)