Four million tourists at the end of June

This is reflected in tourism ministry figures for the first six months of the year. The overnight growth is 3 points below the growth of tourist flows. This phenomenon is explained by the emergence of new customer trends. Hotel accommodation is no longer the only place where tourists stay.
The increase of tourist flows is attributed to non-residents (9%) but above all residents (12%). For the first category, this increase is due to the UK markets with an increase of 34%, Spanish (11%), Netherlands (17%) and Italy (15%).

Traditional strong markets for Morocco have slowed. The French market has stagnated somewhat with growth of only 2% in the number of nights and 7% in arrivals, the German market has grown by 8%.
Yet according to a survey TourMag, the No 1 French portal for travel, Morocco is amongst the top three destinations for summer 2010, which is very encouraging given the economic situation.

Marrakech is still the top destination followed by Agadir, even if it was flat (-1%). But substantial increases were also been registered in Tangier and Rabat. Ouarzazate experienced a decline in overnight stays (-9%).

The tourism profession had predicted 10% growth for 2010.


The average occupancy rate of hotel rooms was improved by 2 percentage points to 43%. The best performances are those of Marrakech, Casablanca, Essaouira and Oujda-Saïdia. For the latter, the performance is obviously related to the start of the tourism complex. Foreign exchange earnings generated by tourism rose 10% over the first half. The Sector has generated 22.7 billion dirhams against MAD 20.6 billion in 2009. In 2005, revenues were $ 16.1 billion.

Finally, the international airport arrivals traffic increased by 16% in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period of 2009, amounting to 6.1 million passengers. Casablanca, Marrakech and Agadir are the largest airports in terms of traffic. But in terms of growth, the highest increases in the first half were recorded at the airports of Fes, Nador and Tangier.

The month of June is detached from the rest of the year because it experiences unusual developments. An increase in the number of nights spent in classified accommodation increased by 17% compared to June 2009.


This increase in nights spent applies equally to non-resident tourists (16%) and residents (22%). For the first category, this increase is attributed to the last minute markets in the UK with an increase of 75%, Spanish (25%), Russian (51%) and Italy (40%). The French market recorded zero growth in the number of nights in the month of June

On the arrival of tourists at border crossings, their number has increased by 20% for the month of June, reaching the same proportion for foreigners and Morrocans resident overseas (respectively 20 and 21%). The English are ahead, followed by Italians and Spaniards. The worst performers were Germany and France
Despite an ever-increasing pressure on fares for holiday packages, foreign exchange receipts are up 10% to 22.71 billion dirhams.

Moroccan operators are maintaining their revenue per unit, which is essential to balance economic and financial sector companies.

Despite competition from destinations in the Mediterranean, Morocco arrivals roughly maintained their level of expenditure per tourist, which amounted to nearly $ 900 (8,200 dirhams). The presence of major international luxury is probably an incentive for many, as well as niche products such as golf.