New airlift driving Morocco towards one million UK visitors
Rob GillMorocco has enjoyed “unique momentum” from the UK market in 2024, which it expects to continue thanks to a significant increase in flights to the North African destination – including from Jet2.com.
During the first nine months of the year, UK arrivals reached 817,000 (+38%), which is ahead of the 807,000 British visitors during the whole of 2023 and is also 75% higher than during the same period of 2019.
Morocco now expects UK visitor numbers to top one million this year, which would represent a year-on-year uptick of nearly a quarter. Total visitor numbers for the year are expected to exceed 13 million.
Meryem Bennouna, UK, Ireland and Nordics director at the Moroccan National Tourist Office, told TTG ahead of WTM London: “We’re in a very good place and super excited about the UK market – it’s increased exceptionally in comparison to last year and it’s very unique what’s going on.”
Bennouna highlighted the recent surge in airline capacity for helping drive this rise in UK arrivals; Ryanair added 35 new weekly flights to Morocco this summer, including 16 from the UK, while Jet2.com launched Marrakech and Agadir last month offering 17 weekly flights. Morocco now has year-round connectivity from 14 UK airports.
"It’s a huge amount of new flights and they are also from different UK cities, including Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle,” Bennouna added.
While Marrakech remains Morocco’s most popular destination for UK holidaymakers, followed by Agadir, the tourist office is keen to promote other parts of the country to repeat visitors. This includes the Atlas Mountains, which have now recovered from the impact of last year’s earthquake, as well as the cities of Rabat and Tangier.
Bennouna added the latest stage of its Kingdom of Light campaign would also focus on “different experiences”, such as the desert destination of Dakhla and Taghazout on the coast near Agadir.
"We would like to increase niche markets, such as gastronomy, as that’s such a hit with British travellers – they love it,” she said. “We will also focus on wellness and hammams as that’s a fantastic product, as well as adventure and trekking in the Atlas Mountains.”
In the coming years, Morocco will focus on improving its tourism infrastructure as it prepares to co-host the Fifa World Cup football tournament in 2030, alongside Spain and Portugal.
“There’s a huge push to get the accommodation and airports ready in time for the World Cup, and the government is fully supportive,” said Bennouna.
This period of hotel development around the country will include increasing Marrakech’s hotel capacity by 45%. “Tourism is going increase even more and in the UK market, in particular, we’re still very far from reaching its full potential,” added Bennouna.
Morocco’s aim is to achieve 17.5 million global visitors by 2026 and 26 million by 2030, by which time it also hopes to comprise around half of its energy mix from renewable solar and wind sources.
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