Morocco’s Hiking Boom Lacks Official Support Despite Growing Popularity

According to Ayoub Kaoutar, mountaineer and secretary general of the Moroccan Federation of Sports Professionals (FMPS), interviewed by h24info, a real "hiking craze" has hit Morocco. This, thanks to "the establishment of certain brands offering low-cost equipment" and to Nacer Ibn Abdeljalil who became in 2013 "the first Moroccan to climb the highest summit in the world, Everest". The performance of this mountaineer has inspired followers, says Ayoub Kaoutar, stressing that "these mountaineers have managed to make themselves known and have thus democratized this little-known sport among Moroccans".

"We must not forget that we have the second highest African summit. And the challenge is just as exciting and attracts many enthusiasts from all over the world," adds Ayoub Kaoutar, hailing the decisive role of influencers on "social networks, especially Instagram" who have "promoted" these mountain sports that no longer benefit from any support from the Ministry of Tourism or the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT).

To read: Morocco’s Mount Toubkal Ranked 3rd Best Global Hiking Destination by CNN

Azzedine Lamine, a physiotherapist by training, is one of these influencers. He has nearly 30,000 subscribers on his networks. "At first, it was just a hobby, I did a few hikes on the weekend without knowing that it was going to change my life," he confides to H24. Azzedine then created the "Happy feet" group to share his experiences and started organizing circuits. The initiative was a great success that led him to abandon physiotherapy for his passion.

In 2019, "I decided to knock on the door of the Ministry of Tourism, having as a project to develop Happy feet [...] I was then bluntly turned away, being told that mountain tourism is not the one sought after in Morocco," he recalls. Today, Happy feet, as a cooperative, has generated more than 30 direct jobs and about a hundred indirect jobs "in extremely remote regions," he rejoices, deploring moreover the "lack of professionalism" of tourist guides.