Morocco Tourism Surges: April Arrivals Exceed Pre-Pandemic Levels by 4%

Arrivals and travel receipts have seen a very significant increase compared to 2019, despite the slight decline recorded in overnight stays in classified hotels. In April 2023, 1.1 million tourists visited the kingdom, representing a 90% increase compared to the same month last year, due to an increase in the arrival of foreign tourists on stay - TES (91%) and Moroccans residing abroad - MRE (90%). This growth in tourist arrivals in April also represents a 4% increase compared to April 2019, i.e. a 5% decrease for TES and a 19% increase for MRE.

The arrivals of Spanish, British and Italian tourists increased by 35%, 13% and 4% respectively compared to April 2019. On the other hand, the arrivals of German, Dutch and Belgian tourists recorded respective declines of 33%, 26% and 34%. The Tourism Observatory also notes a 121% increase in overnight stays in classified tourist accommodation establishments compared to April 2022, representing a 122% increase for non-resident tourists and 116% for residents. Compared to April 2019, the number of overnight stays fell by 22%, i.e. a 15% drop for non-residents and 37% for residents.

During the month of April 2023, decreases were also recorded in terms of visits to the main tourist destinations such as Marrakech (-7%), Agadir (-26%), Casablanca (-40%), Tangier (-21%), Fez (-31%) and Rabat (-37%) compared to April 2019. However, travel receipts from non-residents reached 7.1 billion dirhams against 6.5 billion dirhams in 2019, an increase of 10%.

Note that a budget of more than 6