Morocco Expects Surge of 200,000 Israeli Tourists Following New Air Routes

200,000 Israeli tourists are expected in the kingdom at first, announced Nadia Fettah Alaoui, adding that "this type of agreement (with Israel) will contribute to better interaction between communities and populations".

The very first to land on Moroccan soil, indicates L’Economiste, will mainly be tourists of Moroccan origin who are eager to set foot on their land of origin, to which they remain so attached. The Jews of Moroccan origin represent a significant community in the Hebrew state, or 800,000, even 1 million people, about a tenth of the Israeli population, notes the same source. Then come a large potential among the Sephardim (Jews from North Africa), the Israeli diaspora (in France, Belgium, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia...), economic operators, investors or organized trips by tour operators, pilgrimages...

Marrakech, Essaouira, Casablanca, Fez, Meknes, Ouezzane, Taroudant, Tinghir, Azemmour, Beni Mellal, Sefrou, Errachidia... are the most popular destinations for Jewish tourists, fundamentally motivated by religious tourism and pilgrimages, with as centers of interest, the mausoleums, moussems, synagogues, saints, mellahs...

Morocco welcomes around 30,000 Jews each year, coming from all over the world, mainly for meditation and rituals. They come, for the most part, to venerate more than 1,200 saints buried in the Kingdom. The sanctuary of Amrane Ben Diouane holds the record for visits. This saint has been resting for 250 years in a Jewish cemetery, perched in the middle of an olive grove on the heights of Ouazzane.