Moroccan Diaspora Shuns Homeland Beaches as Soaring Prices Drive Summer Exodus to Spain

Citizens on the Agadir corniche confirm. The decrease in the number of visitors among Moroccans of the world this year, who came to spend their summer vacations on the beaches of the kingdom, is explained by the unprecedented wave of high prices affecting tourist areas in Morocco, where the price of a night’s stay exceeds 700 dirhams per person, while it increases to exceed 2,000 dirhams at the peak of summer. A summer visitor met by Alyaoum24 stated that the exorbitant prices each summer season are the real reason for the change of destination of Moroccans towards the Spanish islands and beaches, due to the reasonableness of the prices practiced there and the quality of the services provided in their tourist complexes, compared to the situation of the sector in Morocco, marked by an incomprehensible high cost of prices. In other words, a small family needs at least four thousand euros to spend their vacation in the seaside towns of Morocco.

A young Moroccan of the world named Rachid, originally from the city of Agadir, says he is surprised, for the first time, by the low influx of MREs traveling to Morocco this season. According to him, this decline in attendance is explained by the complaints of MREs regarding the high prices of travel tickets, whether by plane or by the cost of maritime transport. He also justifies this disaffection by their complaints from last year regarding the exploitation by the owners of accommodation establishments of the summer period to increase the price of overnight stays.

If this situation persists, Moroccan tourism will take a serious blow. Last year, they represented nearly 49% of tourist arrivals in Morocco. In total, 8.6 million MREs returned to the country in 2024, an annual increase of 17% while the number of visitors reached 17.4 million, including 8.8 million foreign tourists, an increase of 23%.