Although they continued to position themselves in second place after the nationals, the overnight stays and arrivals of Spanish tourists in Tangier are in clear decline. They generally opt, given that they mostly belong to the Spanish middle class, for the three and four star hotels in the city. Official data shows that Spanish tourist arrivals reached 37,845 in Tangier’s classified hotels during the period from January to October 2016 (a drop of 11%). However, the Spanish market continues to be ranked in second position, far behind nationals (224,490 arrivals) and ahead of France (30,313 arrivals). Out of a total of 384,714 classified nights made, during the same first ten months of the current year, by non-residents in the city, the Spanish market contributed with the number of 80,559 (compared to that of 87,526, recorded a year previously), thus showing a decrease of 8%.
It also managed, during this period, to maintain its second position after the national market (450,359 overnight stays), France (71,719 overnight stays), the Arab countries (67,611 overnight stays), the United Kingdom (15,270 overnight stays), the United States (15,181 overnight stays), Germany (9,706 overnight stays), Belgium (9,188 overnight stays) and the Netherlands (8,835 nights). It should be noted that Tangier is, according to studies carried out by travel agencies or online guides, among the cities most popular with Spanish tourists. The data issued by these specialized online sites specify that the pearl of the North, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Casablanca and Rabat are the five Moroccan cities most frequented by these visitors. The same source reports that at the international level, Tangier is one of the ten most visited destinations by Spaniards, including Paris, Lisbon, New Delhi, Rome, New York, Brussels, Omaha and Amsterdam.
“Spanish tourists who opt for the city are generally day trippers whose average length of stay is two to three days. Their enthusiasm for Tangier can be explained by the fact that the destination stands out for its multiple tourist assets and its hinterland,” said the director of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Regional Tourism Council (CRT-TTH), Abdelghani Ragala. It should be noted that out of the total of 835,073 nights spent, during the period January-October 2016, by hotel and tourist accommodation establishments classified in Tangier, those of three and four stars contribute with half of the nights, the majority of which are spent by Spanish tourists. They are followed by five-star hotels (219,806 nights) and two-star hotels (100,523 nights).
