New airlift driving Morocco towards one million UK visitors

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.