Morocco’s Hotel Industry Struggles as Tourists Opt for Apartment Rentals

Change in behavior among vacationers. This year, Moroccan tourists have preferred to rent apartments and residences rather than stay in hotels during their summer vacations. Several reasons explain this disaffection for hotels.

"The tourist influx this season remains low compared to previous years, due to several factors, including the deterioration of the purchasing power of Moroccans and the significant rise in temperatures in many tourist cities par excellence, particularly Marrakech, in addition to the French political crisis given that France is the number one promoter of tourism in the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as the Paris Olympic Games," explains Lahcen Zelmat, president of the National Federation of the Hotel Industry, to Alayam24.

Zelmat added that "the early legislative elections that took place in France had a significant impact on the tourism yield in Morocco, which led to a near-stagnation in classified hotels." Similarly, "domestic tourism has decreased considerably, knowing that the monthly salary of public sector employees for this month was paid in June to cover the expenses of Eid al-Adha," developed the professional.

The other reason that may justify the low influx in hotels concerns the preference of Moroccan families for "unstructured sectors related to accommodation, that is to say apartments and houses," adds Zelmat, who hopes for a resurgence of activity at the end of this month of July and the beginning of August, a period during which many Moroccan families take advantage of their summer vacation before the start of the school year scheduled for early September.