While Morocco celebrates a remarkable increase in the number of tourists with 17.4 million visitors in 2024, surpassing flagship destinations like Egypt (15.7 million), the analysis of Zoubir Bouhout, expert in tourism, reveals another reality, that of a very low tourist profitability.
According to the latest UN-Tourism report, if the kingdom can be delighted with a record influx, it is nevertheless placed in the 53rd world position in terms of revenue per tourist, with an average of 650 dollars per visitor. For comparison, the expert in tourism, Zoubir Bouhout, quotes Egypt. Although having welcomed fewer tourists, it is in 40th place in the ranking, benefiting from better economic return per visitor.
For Zoubir Bouhout, this paradoxical situation is explained by several structural factors. “” There is a big gap between the efforts made to attract tourists and the resulting lack of profitability “, He regrets, stressing that Moroccans living abroad (MRE), although entered in statistics,” have a relatively low tourist contribution, despite their crucial role in fund transfers ».
Bouhout points to often too short stays, a high -end high -end hotel park still limited – although development -, and above all, the lack of tourist animation infrastructure.
« Large projects such as attractions or Disneyland type themed parks are almost nonexistent. However, these are these places where tourists spend the most He raises.
Always in his comparison with Egypt, Bouhout recalls “ that in 2025, Egypt plans to build 34,000 additional rooms, against only 8,500 for Morocco “He says, before adding that” The more the infrastructure is developed, the more negotiations with airlines and others are facilitated ».
-A disturbing lag between arrivals and recipes
Thus, data from the first quarter of 2025 highlight another malfunction. More 22 % of tourists compared to the same period of 2024, but only +2.4 % of currency revenues. “” It is a blatant gap. Such an arrival increase should have generated at least 10 to 15 % of additional revenue. This is clearly a problem », Bouhout alert.
Regarding Marrakech, an emblematic city of Moroccan tourism, the expert welcomes the efforts undertaken but calls for urgent diversification of the circuits to unclog emblematic places such as the Jamaâ El Fna square. “” You have to offer new experiences. It is starting to be done already in Agafay or the palm grove. But above all we must act to decongest the city center of the ocher city He suggests.
Also, the expert in tourism sees in digitalization a promising track, in particular with the initiatives of the Ministry of Culture aimed at the digitization of access tickets to historic monuments. “” I hope that in the future, applications will allow you to know the saturated sites in real time in order to better distribute flows He explains.
Despite these worrying findings, Bouhout is optimistic. He believes that Morocco has the potential to go up in the classification, provided that it quickly corrects the identified weaknesses.
« We must improve the duration of stays, invest in tourist animation, accelerate the development of luxury hotels, and optimize flow management thanks to technologies “, He recommends.
