Moroccan Travelers Opt for Cheaper Foreign Vacations as Domestic Hotel Prices Soar

"The desire to travel is an innate nature in man, and globally, there is a percentage of people who travel to a certain country and a percentage who prefer to relax abroad, which also applies to the Moroccan citizen," commented Zoubir Bouhout, a tourism expert at Al Ayyam 24. According to his explanations, "there is a category of Moroccans with limited incomes who prefer to spend their holidays in one of the Moroccan cities due to their modest means, while another category belonging to the middle class wishes to travel abroad, which is a matter of consumer freedom".

"The fact that some Moroccan families spend their holidays abroad is due to several reasons, including the fact that accommodation in Spain is for example less expensive than in the northern regions of Morocco, Agadir or Marrakech," estimates Omar Belhachmi, interested in tourism issues and owner of a Moroccan travel agency. And the rates charged by hotels in certain countries are indeed within the reach of the budgets of low-income Moroccans. "Hotels in Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey and Portugal are cheaper than in Morocco and this is the real reason that pushes some families to take advantage of trips abroad rather than spending their holidays in Morocco," confirmed Belhachmi. And to specify: "travel agencies have no role in determining the choices of Moroccan citizens for their summer holidays, and that the mechanism of supply and demand is what determines the prices of services offered to citizens and tourists". However, other Moroccans prefer to spend their holidays in Morocco.

"Despite the high cost of various services, the Moroccan citizen always enjoys his holidays in the cities of the Kingdom of Morocco, particularly in tourist cities like Agadir, Marrakech, Tangier, Tetouan, and others," added Belhachmi. The figures provided by Zoubir Bouhout bear witness to this. "One third of the nights recorded in classified hotels are for domestic tourism," he said, adding that "in 2019 before the crisis or in 2023, the total number of nights exceeded 25 million, and the first customer of hotels is the Moroccan consumer, followed by French tourists".