In Marrakech, one of Morocco’s flagship tourist destinations, professionals in the sector say they are being bled by the anti-competitive practices of the GetYourGuide travel platform.
A start-up founded in 2009 in Zurich (Switzerland), GetYourGuide lists tours, activities and excursions that tourists can book during their visit to Marrakech and other regions of Morocco. However, accredited tourism operators expressed to Yabiladi their concerns about the functioning of this platform, believing that it “weakens the sector” in the country.
GetYourGuide functions as an intermediary, connecting tourists with local tour operators, while offering services such as guided tours, day trips and sightseeing tours, including museums and some nature experiences. Many tourism professionals say some unauthorized or low-quality suppliers slip through the cracks, providing false documents, such as business licenses, permits or certifications. With this quality thus usurped, they sell their services at prices much lower than those of the market.
Unauthorized service providers
“GetYourGuide is a platform for promoting tourist destinations in Morocco. Unfortunately, the country still lacks a local website of similar scale,” Mohamed Bamansour, president of the National Federation of Tourist Transport (FNTT), explained to Yabiladi. According to him, if the start-up “relies on companies that actually exist and which respect the law, it is also the target of fraudulent activities”.
“Some people resort to abusive practices on the platform and include erroneous data. These may be people operating from abroad, who offer services in Morocco without the necessary authorizations, or individuals from the informal sector who provide false documents,” he explained, raising the concerns of many professionals.
Faced with this situation, Mohamed Bamansour called for intervention from the Ministry of Tourism, to “hold a dialogue with professionals and establish a new procedure capable of securing the registration of service providers on the platform”. “These companies should be licensed to offer tourist services, in order to protect Morocco as a destination,” he insisted, adding that in the event of a problem, a legal framework should be put in place to guarantee rights. providers and customers.
Although the GetYourGuide site asks registered service providers for the necessary documents, “the authentications of the proofs provided would not be systematized, nor done in consultation with competent local authorities,” affirmed the president of the FNTT. According to him, the possibilities of fraud on authorizations to provide tourist services on such a platform are a boon for “informal providers”, who “pay neither taxes nor social contributions, harming both the formal sector, customers and government objectives.
Other professionals have pointed to additional problems, such as dumping or uncompetitive prices. This is what Mohamed, representative of a local travel agency in Marrakech, observed. The company accompanies tourists from their arrival in Morocco until their departure, taking care of their reservations, travel and even offering them various excursion programs. “We know that many service providers on GetYourGuide come from the informal sector in Morocco, which means that they often do not pay taxes. This explains their low prices compared to others,” he laments. “They operate entirely online, without brick-and-mortar offices,” he emphasizes.
Regulatory issues
In this same sense, Mohamed explains that “legitimate professionals pay taxes, rent offices and declare salaries (…) all charges which are included in the prices, which explains the existing margin of difference”, a- he explained, adding that “this also means that informal actors may not provide the expected level of service.”
“Customers prioritize price over license. While this is understandable, it can lead to encouraging informal providers, which is detrimental to the regulated tourism sector.”
Mohamed, travel agent in Marrakech
His colleague, also a representative of a tourism agency in Marrakech, expressed similar concerns, adding that this could go as far as “damaging Morocco’s tourist reputation.” “Some providers on GetYourGuide are neither professional nor qualified. They prioritize money over quality of service, lack language skills and harm the image of the sector,” he pointed out. “Low prices often indicate poor quality services. For example, a Dh75 guided tour to Ouzoud Waterfalls probably suggests the guide is not certified, not to mention poor restaurants and experiences,” he added.
The professional, who also accompanies tourists on excursions, said that “it is easy to create a fake company and start operating on GetYourGuide, which affects legitimate companies and creates unfair competition.” Furthermore, he insisted that people like him “end up paying for the mistakes of unprofessional providers, on similar applications and platforms”.
Jamal Saadi, former president of the National Federation of Tourist Guides, who still works as a guide, believes that this phenomenon is due to the way these platforms operate. “In general, they are interested in selling their products. Given the competition in international markets, they are doing their best to satisfy their customers,” he commented. But “unfair practices like dumping”, by undercutting prices, harm legally constituted companies.
But the solution exists, according to Jamal Saadi: “They should send requests to the Ministry of Tourism or regional associations to confirm the legitimacy of the service providers.”
“They can contact each association, providing the necessary details, to verify the authenticity of the provider. It’s a simple procedure and the tourist federations would benefit from discussing this issue with the Ministry of Tourism,” he suggests. In this sense, the guide emphasizes that “the National Tourism Confederation (CNT) is made up of professional structures which can formulate this proposal to the president”. “I am sure that the CNT will contact the ministry to find a solution,” he concluded confidently.
Prices well below market prices
Comparing the prices offered by GetYourGuide in Marrakech with those of other online platforms and providers, Yabiladi noticed that the company now based in Berlin (Germany) systematically offers the lowest price. For a hot air balloon tour in Marrakech, including local breakfast, certificate and hotel pickup and drop-off, GetYourGuide offers a rate of 1,435 dirhams. A bill significantly lower than the estimates of other platforms, such as Viator, with 2,019 DH per person for a hot air balloon excursion which does not include the shuttle. Airbnb offers 1,969 DH for a similar package, with hot air balloon flight, transfers, breakfast and certificate.
For an outing in the Agafay desert, with camel riding, dinner and show, GetYourGuide offers everything for 372 DH, shuttle service included. Airbnb offers the same package at 450 DH, while TripAdvisor rates it at 570 DH, including a quad tour.
For longer guided tours, GetYourGuide also offers the lowest prices. For a 3-day trip, leaving from Fez to Marrakech via Merzouga, the platform charges 5,090 DH, including transport, camel riding, overnight stays in the towns of Dadès and Ouarzazate, shuttles to Marrakech. On TripAdvisor, the same trip is offered at 7,533 DH.
For city attractions, GetYourGuide also has the lowest prices. A guided tour of the Ben Youssef Madrasa, the secret garden and the souks of Marrakech costs 323 DH per person. The same tour is offered at the price of 442 DH on Viator.
$2 billion valuation
GetYourGuide was founded in 2009 by Johannes Reck, Tao Tao, Martin Sieber and Tobias Rein. Originally created as a peer-to-peer platform to connect tourists with amateur guides, it has developed as an interface for professional tours and activities.
Initially based in Zurich, the company moved to Berlin in 2013 to raise capital, mainly from American investors. Over the course of several funding rounds, it has raised significant funds, reaching a valuation of $2 billion in 2023. GetYourGuide has expanded globally, including Asia and the Americas, and has continued to grow despite the difficulties linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yabiladi attempted to contact GetYourGuide for an explanation of the criteria used to select service providers in Morocco, but to no avail.
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