Algeria aims for 8 million tourists in 2029, while Morocco has already reached 14.1 million in 8 months

The Algerian government has set its course as part of its 2026-2028 tourism strategy. Tourism Minister Houria Meddahi announced that the country wanted to reach 8 million tourists by 2029, compared with just over 3.5 million in 2025, reports Radio Algérienne, citing the official APS news agency.

To achieve this, Algiers intends to develop coastal and seaside tourism, the Sahara, mountain tourism, business, cultural and religious tourism. The authorities also plan to increase accommodation capacity, facilitate investment and continue simplifying visa procedures.

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The comparison with Morocco nevertheless gives an idea of the gap currently separating the two markets. The Kingdom has just reached 14.1 million tourists between January and August 2026, according to figures from the Ministry of Tourism. That is 6.1 million more visitors than Algeria’s annual target for 2029, while Morocco’s 2026 tourist year is still far from over.

Morocco even reached a new milestone in August: more than 2 million tourists were welcomed during that single month, a first. In the first eight months of the year, visitor numbers rose by 4.5% compared with the same period in 2025, representing approximately 608,000 additional arrivals.

In 2025, Morocco welcomed nearly six times more tourists

The difference becomes even clearer when the two countries are compared over a full year. In 2025, Algeria welcomed just over 3.5 million tourists. That same year, Morocco set a record of 19.8 million visitors, approximately 5.7 times more.

This comparison must nevertheless be viewed in context. Moroccan statistics notably include Moroccans residing abroad among tourist arrivals. In 2024, foreign tourists nevertheless surpassed MREs in the Kingdom’s total visitor numbers, with 8.8 million and 8.6 million arrivals respectively.

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The two countries also do not start from the same level of tourism development. For several decades, Morocco has had a sector strongly oriented toward international markets, a much denser air network and destinations already established in Europe, such as Marrakech and Agadir. Algeria, for its part, is seeking to transform tourism potential that remains largely underexploited into a genuine industry.

And Morocco’s ambitions continue to rise in parallel. After welcoming 19.8 million visitors in 2025, the Kingdom now aims for 26 million tourists a year in 2030, the year of the World Cup organized with Spain and Portugal. If Algeria reaches its own target of 8 million in 2029, it will have more than doubled its current visitor numbers, but will still have a significant part of the gap with its neighbor to close.