Dakhla Emerges as Top Moroccan Tourist Destination, Outshining Northern Cities

"The city is establishing itself as a tourist destination throughout the year and especially during the summer, while we, the professionals, do not have any problem in marketing our tourist offers, given the demand they generate," explains to Hespress a supplier of tourist offers in Dakhla. The existence of air links is a major factor. "The existence of direct air links has pushed the inhabitants of northern Morocco and the major cities to choose to spend a few days in the city located at the extreme south of the kingdom, although the current prices remain unsuitable, as we offer that the round-trip transport be around 1500 dirhams," he added. He cites another tourist asset of Dakhla: the inclusion of offers for accommodation and transport. This "also contributes to the reputation of Dakhla as a tourist site that is thriving throughout the year, to the point that we are surpassing Merzouga, thanks to the additional marine element that we possess," he completes, ensuring that the offers are within the reach of all budgets. "The bourgeois class" is therefore not "the only one to benefit from this tourist site".

Lekbir Bouchaab, president of the Regional Association of Tourist Guides of Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab, communicates the figures that confirm the improvement of tourism in Dakhla. He said that almost 43,423 tourists arrived in the city last year by plane, of which 47% were Moroccans and the others were French, Belgian and Spanish tourists. He attributes the city’s tourist enthusiasm to "its combination of desert and coastal climate". "More than 50 hotel units provide accommodation for visitors, and this is reinforced by the availability of many rental houses in the city," Bouchaab continues, pleased that the city’s professionals have "what it takes to compete with national tourist sites, despite some constraints that require solutions, such as the high cost of accommodation and air travel".

Another travel professional and supplier of special offers for Dakhla, agrees with his predecessors. "The enthusiasm for the current offers is mainly due to the discovery by Moroccans of this city as an alternative local tourist destination to the northern regions which are crowded every year, while the development plan of the southern provinces has contributed to making it known and increasing its chances," he explains. In addition, "Dakhla has been known as a tourist destination since 2016 thanks to domestic travel organizers who offered it to people wishing to spend their holidays in a region combining sand and sea, while we Moroccans only thought of the coast as being in the north," he recalls.

What about tourist offers? "Tourist offers for the city start from 3,500 dirhams for economic offers and 5,500 dirhams for high-quality offers, although if air travel costs had dropped a bit, the costs of these offers would also have decreased, as competitiveness in the transport sector can reduce this price," he specifies.