Dakhla Emerges as Top Moroccan Tourist Destination Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Dakhla is the preferred destination for Moroccans and residents in Morocco in these times of health crisis related to Covid-19. All kinds of tourism are developing there. "The first indicator is the flights, and they are all overbooked! You have to book more than a week in advance to make your reservations," notes Leila Ouachi, president of the Lagon Dakhla Association and general manager of the OL Consulting communication agency, specifying that it is mainly leisure tourism, solidarity and social tourism, or corporate tourism, through meetings, meetings or team building activities.

With 40 classified hotels and about 800 beds, Dakhla welcomes many tourists. The desire to discover another region of the kingdom is felt. "Marrakech and Agadir, people have done it fifty times. They want to see something else. Dakhla was not a very well-known city on the national market. Moroccan tourists who can no longer travel abroad, especially to the Canary Islands, have retreated to local destinations they don’t necessarily know. They discovered that Dakhla was not just a seaside town reserved for kitesurfing or surfing," explains the management of the Dakhla Club hotel to Médias24.

"It’s a region that Moroccans don’t know much about, unlike Marrakech. People come above all to discover," adds Khalil Ajana, regional director of the Dakhla Attitude group. According to Leila Ouachi, it is probably the only tourist city in Morocco where tourists can feel free and far from Covid-19. "When you’re there, you forget the virus! Health security is completely assured: anyone who comes to Dakhla, whether by air or by road, must undergo a PCR test. Tourists know they are safe when they come here," she says. "Dakhla is indeed a very protected area in health terms," confirms Khalil Ajana.

What about the charm of Dakhla? "The current trend is towards everything that is space and nature, especially to protect oneself. Dakhla is precisely immense spaces and not concentrations of populations. The accommodations here are bungalows; not high-rise hotels like urban hotels. From one bungalow to another, the distancing is assured. So we are in something at the same time open, but closed in relation to Covid. People come to get some fresh air, see the dunes, the natural hinterland... and not to stay locked up in hotels with restrictions," Leila Ouachi points out again, convinced that Dakhla will become the preferred destination for European, Spanish and French tourists after the reopening of borders.

According to Khalil Ajana, two other factors explain the rush of tourists to this destination. These are "patriotic" tourism and the "more attractive" services offered by hotels. "People come to mark the Moroccan territoriality of the Sahara. It is a form of tourism imbued with a certain patriotism. On the other hand, the hotels have been numerous in reducing their rates, in order to adapt the offer to the current economic situation and to the Moroccan wallet. The fact that they have reduced the rates has undoubtedly encouraged Moroccan tourists to come," he estimates.