Morocco’s Tourism Resilient Amid Gen Z Protests

No update to the travel advice portal of the Quai d’Orsay since September 16, nor any recommendation beyond previous warnings. Only the Belgian authorities on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommend "avoiding demonstration sites" without calling for the cancellation of planned trips to Morocco. Italy and Spain are doing the same. No flights canceled by Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Transavia or Ryanair. The demonstrations organized by the Moroccan youth movement "Gen Z 212" have not negatively impacted tourism activity in Morocco.

The companies rather have concerns about "the air traffic controllers’ strikes in France expected next week from October 7 to 9," it was said on Friday evening to Le Figaro. The protest gatherings of the Moroccan youth movement have had little impact on tour operators’ activities. "The activities of our resort are running normally. Our customers continue to fully enjoy their stays without any particular restrictions to date. As a precautionary measure, security has been strengthened. Our teams are closely monitoring the situation in constant contact with the local authorities," said a member of the Club Med Kuoni management on Friday afternoon.

The same goes for Thomas Chabrière, the boss of Marrakech Insiders, a company that offers original sidecar tours of the city. "I have no cancellations on my side," he assures.

"We have had no postponements. Customers come to us to visit Marrakech and not to stay by the pool. To date, the restaurants are full, the famous horse-drawn carriages as well! We are located near the train station and last night there was a peaceful gathering but nothing that could disrupt the stay of visitors," assures Olivier de Kermel, who runs the four-star Bab Hotel in the Gueliz district of Marrakech.

The consequences are also minimal in other tourist regions: "business as usual," said the representative of a British agency specializing in sports stays related to kitesurfing in Dakhla in the south of the country on Saturday morning. However, there is a risk that the demonstrations will have a negative impact on Moroccan tourism if they persist. "(...) It’s too early to take stock, like all my colleagues we have no cancellations. However, we need to be vigilant about the continuation of events that I hope will be peaceful," said anonymously a hotelier owning several large-capacity establishments as well as riads.

Since Saturday, September 27, the Moroccan youth movement "Gen Z 212" has been organizing demonstrations in the cities of Tiznit, Inzegane and Ait Amira, in the south of the country, as well as in the city of Oujda, in the east, and in Temara, near the capital Rabat. The demands of this movement mainly concern issues of education, health, employment and social justice. The death at the public hospital in Agadir of eight pregnant women admitted for cesarean sections is at the origin of the triggering of these social protests. "The stadiums are ready (for the 2025 CAN Morocco, editor’s note), but where is the hospital?" the protesters chanted.