Moroccan Tourism to Turkey Surges: 234,000 Visitors Spend $600 Million in 2019

In total, 234,264 Moroccans visited Turkey last year, compared to 176,538 in 2018, an increase of 32%, according to the latest statistics from the website of the Turkish Ministry of Tourism. The 2019 figures also represent double the number of Moroccan tourists (114,155) who visited Turkey in 2017.

According to Othman Cherif Alami, CEO of Morocco’s leading tour operator Atlas Voyage, Moroccans who travel to Turkey are around 20% of the total who travel abroad for tourism purposes, or more than a million tourists per year. "Turkey is the 4th favorite destination of our fellow citizens, after France, Spain and Saudi Arabia, followed by Asia, Europe and the USA," he specified.

According to his explanations, the lifting of visas has caused a rush of Moroccans to Turkey, more precisely Istanbul, just as the explosion in the number of Chinese wishing to go to Morocco. "Thus, we handle about 7,000 stays per year in Turkey; but this figure should soon reach 10,000," he said.

According to him, Moroccan tourists spent about 6 billion dirhams ($600 million) during their holidays in Turkey last year. "Moroccans spend a lot of money in this country. Indeed, under the guise of tourism, at least 1/3 of them go there for business or trade; 20% for pseudo-leisure (e.g. holidays reimbursed by the purchase of a carpet bought on site and resold in Morocco); and finally, about 50% go to Turkey solely for tourist leisure," he added.