Moroccan Expats Face Gridlock Nightmare During Tangier Summer Vacation

The traffic jam is "the most annoying thing in this beautiful city," says Hamid, a Moroccan living in France who came to Tangier to spend his vacation with his family, to Hespress. He will add: "We spend a full hour in the car to cover a distance of less than two kilometers in the city center, it’s really strange." According to him, the congestion is present in cafes, restaurants and everywhere else. According to this Moroccan living abroad, Tangier needs more creativity and innovation in its infrastructure to be able to accommodate the many visitors during this time of year.

As for the impact of the traffic jam on tourism activity? The congestion in the streets and on the beaches of the northern cities "does not necessarily mean that tourism activity benefits everyone," says an anonymous source within the Association of Hotel Owners of the North. To support her point, she specifies that the occupancy rate of the large hotels in Tangier does not exceed 60 to 70%, which is lower than the figure for previous years. According to her, the decline in the purchasing power of Moroccans and the problems they encounter in moving around the cities due to congestion have a negative impact on the tourism sector. Some classified hotels have reduced their rates by 1,000 dirhams without reaching an occupancy rate of 100%, explains the same source.

She also justifies the drop in hotel occupancy by the increased demand for furnished apartment rentals. She calls on the competent authorities to work on resolving this situation, which she described as "unbalanced." Khalil El Amrani, an actor in the tourism sector in the province of Tetouan, does not share the same opinion. "Thank God, everything is full, the activity is beyond imagination and tourists have great difficulty finding parking spaces," he said, also expressing surprise at the scale of the attendance that had been questioned by the forecasts.

"Since the holding of the allegiance ceremony in Tetouan, the activity has not stopped," the tourism actor also said. He was keen to assure that all social categories find an offer that suits them and that "the classified and luxury hotels and residences are also full, sought after by customers who do not find a place there." El Amrani does not overlook the major challenges facing the sector. He mentions the need to put in place infrastructure and equipment that guarantee comfort conditions for tourists, such as parking lots that tire and annoy vacationers, in addition to the congestion of cafes and restaurants.