Morocco Lifts Restrictions on Hammams During Ramadan

The hammams will reopen to the public. A professional source told Médias24 that the owners have received verbal instructions authorizing them to open their establishments to the general public during the month of Ramadan. An official note will confirm this information.

Based on a note from the Ministry of the Interior, provincial and regional authorities had, in January, made a decision prohibiting the activity of hammams and car washing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays of each week, in order to rationalize water. Professionals in the sector expect the recent rainfall in the kingdom to convince the authorities to reconsider their decision.

This measure could have unfortunate economic and social consequences. In a letter addressed to the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, the National Federation of Associations of Owners and Operators of Traditional Baths in Morocco has also specified that the closure of traditional baths on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays would lead to the unemployment of more than 200,000 people working in these establishments and will affect the purchasing power of these vulnerable and mostly unskilled people, in a context of high inflation.