Moroccan Expats Return Home for Quiet Year-End Celebrations

"I want to visit my family and have a good time with them during the New Year holidays," says Z.M., a young Moroccan who got off a plane at the Ibn Battouta airport in Tangier, where his mother Amina and Ahmed were waiting for him. He arrived on a low-cost flight from Bordeaux airport, bound for the "Pearl of the North". According to him, he has spent seven years in France, where he works in an electrical company. He has celebrated the majority of New Year’s Eves in Morocco. Z.M. also stated that the majority of passengers on the flight to Tangier airport were MREs.

Like him, there are many MREs who prefer to spend the end-of-year holidays in their country of origin rather than abroad. "I have lived more than 15 years in France and I have solid relationships with the French and foreigners who live with us there. But I have firmly decided for some time now to come back systematically to the country at the approach of the New Year," says M.K., an entrepreneur in the construction sector in Paris. While he resides in Kenitra, he preferred to land at Tangier airport rather than Rabat. "I came to Tangier because the flight duration is shorter than to Rabat, and I will take the Al Boraq train directly to Kenitra, whose journey time is less than an hour (50 minutes). This is very encouraging and practical for me," explains M.K.

He plans to spend a week with his family. "[...] I will find my old friends, before leaving again on December 31, because I did not find a ticket for January 1st. All the flights were full," adds the entrepreneur, specifying that he will have to resume his work on January 2, the first working day of the year in France and in most countries of the world.