As every year, Moroccans are disappointed with the tourism offering in Morocco, in terms of quality of services and leisure, but also because of the exorbitant prices offered by tourism players (hotels, hostels, restaurants, services, etc.). Prices, which push most families with limited income to not even consider a weekend, especially not during the two months of July and August. This year, the situation is even more complicated due to the significant increase in consumer products and diesel. 

The problem of poor tourist supply and rising prices in Morocco comes down to several factors according to Zoubir Bouhouth, an expert in the field of tourism, who spoke to Hespress Fr on the subject. First there is the influx of tourists during the months of July-August, in particular MRE (Moroccans living abroad).

Citing the year 2019 as an example, and based on official figures communicated by the Ministry of Tourism, some 5.9 million MRE returned to Morocco in 2019, including 40% (2.4 million) during the months of July-August. “In July alone, some 1.4 million MRE returned home, which means that there is a concentration of tourists, if we add local and international tourism“, adds the expert.

“On the one hand we have strong demand, largely boosted by MREs, and local demand on the other. But what is serious is that the tourist offer is too low in Morocco. We don’t have many hotels compared to other destinations. Official figures from the Ministry of Tourism speak of 276,000 beds in total. In reality, the figure must be divided by two, because it does not take into consideration hotels that have closed their doors. The latter always appear in the statistics. This means that we have high demand and low tourist supply, which automatically results in an increase in prices“, explains Zoubir Bouhout.

We often hear Moroccans complain about the attractive offers for foreign tourists in Morocco at lower prices and which they do not take advantage of. On this point, the tourism expert explains this phenomenon, which is rather real, by citing several points.

“On digital platforms, there is no distinction between Moroccan or foreigner. Furthermore, most foreigners go through travel agencies which offer rather interesting packages, since they are tour operators which rent blocks of rooms,” explains the expert, citing as an example a travel agency which rents a 300-room hotel for a whole year, and can therefore afford to lower its prices.

But in Morocco, we do not have this culture of using travel agencies, deplores Bouhout. “For us it’s an intermediary who will overcharge us for the service, whereas this is not the case most of the time“, he says.

The solution according to Zoubir Bouhout lies in the offer and in the policy of the ministry and private operators to set up resorts and accommodation units, within the reach of citizens and which takes into consideration the purchasing power of Moroccans. But unfortunately there aren’t any, he laments.

» One of the objectives of Vision 2020 was to build 8 tourist resorts under the Biladi Plan. These are vacation centers that look like hotels. The only difference is that it is more of an apartment than a room because we have more family tourism in Morocco, and its price is reduced. There are swimming pools, play parks and attractions for children. Of the 8 stations that were to be built, only two saw the light of day, namely the Imi Ouddar station and Ifrane. There was therefore a problem in the execution of this project, hence the supply deficit that we are currently experiencing,”explains the expert.

To resolve this problem which has become structural, he proposes to put in place an offer within reach, which takes into consideration the purchasing power of Moroccans and proximity, given that we cannot continue to concentrate these infrastructures in the same places, he underlines.

“The vision of tourism 2020 is obsolete. Today, there is a new investment charter, which will provide subsidies, etc. There is no fixed ceiling yet, but we must then develop a 2030 vision. And this vision must take into consideration incentive measures in favor of investors who want to build stations for Moroccans. But, it should not look like ghettos just to bring Moroccans together. They must meet the same criteria as hotels,” says the expert.