Morocco’s Tourism Booms: Record Revenues and Remittances in First Half of 2023

Tourism revenues reached 47.8 billion dirhams at the end of the first half of 2023, an increase of 68.9% compared to the same period in 2022, and 33.7% compared to the first half of 2019, the reference pre-Covid year, according to the foreign trade indicators published by the Office des Changes. To recall, the number of arrivals at border posts stood at 6.5 million during the first 6 months of 2023 (1.4 million tourists in June), an increase of 21% compared to the same period in 2019.

As for travel expenses, they are experiencing a sharp increase. They went from 7.1 billion during the first half of 2022 to 11.5 billion dirhams during the same period this year, an increase of 62%. As for the surplus balance of travel, it is clearly on the rise. It stood at 36.2 billion dirhams at the end of June 2023 against 20.4 billion dirhams over the same period last year.

Like tourism revenues, the transfers of Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) continue to soar. They stood at 55.3 billion dirhams in the first half of 2023 against 48.5 billion transferred at the end of June 2022, an increase of 14%.