The Kingdom of Morocco is now asserting itself as the most popular tourist destination in Africa, thanks to its undeniable assets, the diversity of its tourist offer and its strategy, reports the South African newspaper “Businesstech”.
Under the headline “Two African countries beat South Africa at their own game”, the newspaper indicates that Morocco received, in 2024, a total of 17.4 million visitors, which officially gives it the advantage over Egypt, a former tourism leader on the continent and which also broke its own arrival record, welcoming 15.7 million visitors last year.
The new Moroccan tourism record marks an increase of 20% compared to 2023 and more than 33% compared to pre-pandemic levels of 2019, he underlines, noting that this figure also places the Kingdom of Enlightenment two years ahead of its tourism projections.
He also notes that it is not just volume that makes the difference in Morocco: the country also saw its tourism revenues reach new heights last year, bringing in a total of $11 billion over the period. 12 months, compared to $10.5 billion in 2023.
“These remarkable figures represent a major step towards the objective of positioning Morocco among the top 15 tourist destinations in the world,” underlines the South African media, citing the Moroccan Minister of Tourism, Crafts and Social Economy and In solidarity, Fatim-Zahra Ammor.
He also notes that these results come at the start of a year in which Morocco will host the African Cup of Nations, an event which should attract football fans from around the world. “Given the historic performance of the Moroccan national football team at the 2022 World Cup, when it became the first on the continent to reach the semi-finals, it will also inspire a lot of national tourism,” argues -it again.
“Businesstech” adds that by 2030, when Morocco co-hosts the FIFA World Cup, the country expects to receive 26 million tourists, 50% more than the current number.
In this same vein, he indicates that the United Nations Tourism Office and the World Travel and Tourism Council confirm that North African countries exceed those of Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of tourism volume.
“Morocco and Egypt play in a league of their own when it comes to tourism on the continent, with safari-focused sub-Saharan countries like South Africa and Botswana gaining a small fraction of visitors each year,” he writes .
Referring to the case of South Africa, the newspaper highlights that although tourism is considered a key contributor to GDP growth, figures for 2024 show that only 8 million foreigners have entered this African country. southern, well below those of Morocco and Egypt.
With MAP
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