Record Number of Moroccan Expatriates Expected for Annual Summer Return

Relations between Madrid and Rabat are "at their best moment", as evidenced by the good coordination between the two countries to facilitate the safe transit of people and vehicles as part of Operation Marhaba, say government sources in Spain to La Vanguardia. Between June 15 and July 26, one million Moroccans from Europe crossed Spain to the kingdom, an increase of 6.1% compared to 2022.

Last year’s edition, the first organized after the Covid-19 health crisis, ended with a total of 1,430,340 passengers and 349,735 vehicles. This year, forecasts announce record flows. The peak periods are expected from Saturday to Tuesday. The special plan has provided for a series of measures such as the interchangeability of tickets to accelerate passenger boarding as much as possible. In the return phase, the dates of August 29, 30 and 31 and September 1 are considered critical.

During the outward phase, the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa concentrated the largest volume of traffic, i.e. 70.9% of the total, of which 60.1% for Algeciras and 10.8% for Tarifa for vehicles. On the other side of the strait, the ports of Tanger-Med (43.3%), Tanger Ville (10.8%) and Ceuta (17.4%) recorded the largest flows of vehicles. As for travelers, 123,957 have already left Morocco for Spain as part of the return phase, an increase of 9.6% compared to 2022.