French Tourist Stranded in Morocco Awaits Potential Repatriation Flight Amid Travel Restrictions

To their great surprise, Claudine and her friend saw their vacation extended. With plane tickets for the outward and return journey, they had planned to return to France on March 26. "We stayed a few days with some of my friend’s acquaintances in Marrakech, then we left for a rental in Taghazout near Agadir. Also, following the health crisis, we returned earlier than planned to the family who had welcomed us at the beginning to be able to take a return flight more quickly...", Claudine explains by email to L’Est Républicain.

With the closure in Morocco on March 15 and in France on March 20, the return to France on March 26 became complicated. "We then contacted the French consulate in Marrakech, because we were hoping to take the return flight on March 26..." Claudine then falls ill. She will be admitted to a private clinic (care paid for by the host family) for a day. She regains her health, but not really the hope of returning to France.

"I don’t know how I’m going to reimburse our hosts and now the procedures at the consulate are in vain... We are no longer received on site and our emails remain unanswered, laments Claudine. We are not on the waiting lists for the next repatriation flights... We are told about hypothetical seats on flights on May 22 or 28... How are we going to live until then outside the hospitality of our acquaintances?"

On Thursday, Claudine said she had filled out new repatriation forms and was awaiting confirmation of an upcoming Air France flight. A glimmer of hope for this woman stranded in Marrakech for more than a month and a half.