INTREPID Travel has confirmed that all of its customers, tour leaders and Marrakech office team are accounted for in the wake of the Morocco earthquake, although several team members have lost relatives.
CEO James Thornton told travelBulletin‘s sister publication Travel Daily the country is Intrepid’s largest destination, with the company having a whopping 60 groups on the ground at the time of the quake, carrying more than 600 customers.
He noted that just 17 of those had elected to leave Morocco, with all other customers remaining on trips as scheduled.
“Large parts of the country are operating as normal – Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Meknes, the Sahara Desert,” Thornton said.
“Source market travel advisories have not changed, and Marrakech airport is open,” he added, nothing that trips taking in the High Atlas Mountains and Marrakech old town are the main ones to be affected,
“We are rerouting all itineraries away from these areas, not visiting the Atlas area, and spending less time in Marrakech, enabling customers to still travel and support local communities.”
Thornton said the rapid rollout of Intrepid’s Morocco appeal had so far raised almost $180,000, plus the additional $100,000 matching donation from Intrepid.
“Local communities, particularly in the Atlas Mountains, are in dire need of help…we’re hearing this directly from our team in Morocco,” he said, leading to the launch of the appeal on Sun.
All funds raised will go directly to local partners Education for All and the High Atlas Foundation. Donations can be made online at theintrepidfoundation.org.
