Image by Silke from Pixabay
Morocco has now established itself as the leading tourist destination in Africa, ahead of Egypt, according to the latest figures relayed by the Ecofin agency. In 2024, the Kingdom recorded 15.9 million tourist arrivals as of the end of November, surpassing Egypt’s 15.7 million arrivals. While these figures reflect a strong recovery from the pandemic, Egypt’s tourism sector continues to grow, with forecasts of 18 million tourists by 2025, notably thanks to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum and improved tourism infrastructure .
Morocco, for its part, has not only returned to pre-pandemic levels, but also exceeded the 2019 targets. Since 2023, the Kingdom has shown growth dynamics, and for 2024, it could exceed 17, 5 million tourists, with prospects rising to 20 million in the long term. According to Ecofin, December’s performance will be crucial to achieving this objective, with average monthly arrivals of around 1.4 million.
Data from the Tourism Observatory confirms this trend, with 13.1 million tourists registered between June and September 2024, an increase of 18% compared to the previous year. This progression is accompanied by a diversification of issuing markets, such as the United Kingdom (+43%), Germany (+30%), Italy (+25%), France (+19%) and Spain (+14%).
The growth of Moroccan tourism is also reflected in the performance of the Kingdom’s airports. Marrakech-Menara airport recorded a 32% increase in arrivals, while Agadir-Al Massira saw growth of 35%. Other airports such as Tangier-Ibn Battouta and Fez-Saïs also saw significant increases. These results demonstrate the vitality of the Moroccan tourism sector, which will boom in 2024.
