Morocco overtakes Egypt to become Africa’s top tourist destination in 2024. During this year, Egypt recorded nearly 15.7 million tourist arrivals, while the Kingdom recorded 15, 9 million at the end of November.
Morocco is now the leading tourist destination in Africa. This is what emerges from the figures relayed by the Ecofin agency concerning tourism data for the country of the Nile in 2024. Citing the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, Ecofin reports that the flow of tourists to Egypt in 2024 increased established at 15.7 million. These figures, adds the agency, “indicate a consolidation of growth in the sector after the Covid-19 pandemic which caused the figures to fall from 13 million to around 3.7 million between 2019 and 2020”.
And to underline that the perspective displayed by the Egyptian Prime Minister foresees the reception of 18 million tourists by 2025, with the upcoming opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, the construction of new hotel complexes and the improvement of infrastructure sightseeing.
Morocco will exceed forecasts for 2024
As for Morocco, Ecofin recalls that since 2023, the Kingdom has exceeded the tourist flow figures before the pandemic in 2019, and displays even greater ambitions. “With the dynamics observed since January, Morocco could exceed the objective of 17.5 million annual tourists and commit to the prospect of 20 million,” underlines the agency.
And to affirm that “December will be a pivotal month for the achievement of Morocco’s 2024 objectives in terms of tourist flows. The latter have already reached 15.9 million tourists over the first 11 months of the year, while the Kingdom hopes to record 17.5 million. Considering the monthly average of around 1.4 million, the signals seem to be green for this bar to be reached.” After the summer holidays (4.4 million tourists in July and August 2024), the month of December is generally considered the second high season of the year for the sector, it is explained.
It should be noted that a report recently published by the Tourism Observatory highlights an impressive performance of tourist flows, with nearly 13.1 million visitors having crossed Moroccan borders between June and September 2024. A notable increase of 18% compared to the previous year. This progression is reflected in a diversification of issuing markets, some of which have recorded particularly significant increases: the United Kingdom (+43%), Germany (+30%), Italy (+25%), France (+19%) and Spain (+14%).
At the same time, the Kingdom’s five main airports experienced a substantial increase in arrivals, confirming the boom in tourism in Morocco. Marrakech-Menara airport, a real gateway to the Kingdom, experienced a remarkable increase of 32%, closely followed by Agadir-Al Massira airport which recorded growth of 35%. Tangier-Ibn Battouta and Fez-Saïs airports recorded increases of 18% and 11% respectively, while Mohammed V airport experienced an increase of 7%.
