Tourism in Morocco is well developed, maintaining a strong tourist industry focused on the country's coast, culture, and history. The Moroccan government created a Ministry of Tourism in 1985. Tourism is one of the main foreign exchange sources in Morocco and since 2013 it has had the highest number of arrivals out of the countries in Africa. According to the Ministry of Tourism, a record 17.4 million tourists visited Morocco in 2024, up 20% compared to 2023.
+Yearly tourist arrivals in millions
History and future plans
Morocco has seen rapid growth in the number of tourists visiting over the past few decades. In the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, between 1 and 1.5 million Europeans visited Morocco. Most of these visitors were French or Spanish, with about 100,000 each from Britain, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Tourists mostly visited large beach resorts along the Atlantic coast, particularly Agadir. About 20,000 people from Saudi Arabia visited, some of whom bought holiday homes. Receipts from tourism fell by 16.5% in 1990, the year the Gulf War began.
In 1994, Algeria closed its border with Morocco after the Marrakesh attack, which caused the number of Algerian visitors to fall considerably; there were 70,000 visitors in 1994 and 13,000 in 1995, compared to 1.66 million in 1992 and 1.28 million in 1993.
In 2017, there were 10.3 million tourist arrivals, compared with about 10.1 million in 2016, a 1.5% year-over-year increase. 30% of the tourists were one of the 3.8 million Moroccans living abroad. Marrakesh itself had over 2 million visitors in 2017. In 2019, more than 13 million tourists visited Morocco.
In 2020, Morocco witnessed an all-time low with no more than 4 million tourists, due to the spread of COVID-19. However, the Merzouga region has become a focal point for Morocco desert trips, characterized by a significant growth in luxury desert camps in the Erg Chebbi dunes that offer upscale glamping experiences for international travelers. In 2023, Marrakesh was voted a Top 10 Best Destinations for International Tourists by Tripadvisor. In 2023, Morocco set a new record for the number of tourists visiting, reaching 13.2 million, breaking the former record of 12.9 million that was set in 2019.
Morocco intends to leverage its co-hosting of the 2030 World Cup to further boost long-term tourism. In 2025, it received close to 20 million tourists - the most among African countries. It hopes to draw 35 million foreign visitors annually by 2030, with that year's total estimated to include 1.2 million football fans attending World Cup games in Morocco. To prepare for the anticipated tourism boost for the global football tournament, in March 2026 national tourism development agency (SMIT) unveiled plans to expand hotel capacity by one-fifth, adding 25,000 hotel rooms in the next four years.
Statistics
Year Total Inbound Tourists 2012 9,375,156 2013 10,046,264 2014 10,282,944 2015 10,176,762 2016 10,331,731 2017 11,349,344 2018 12,288,708 2019 12,932,260 2020 2,777,802 2021 3,721,702 2022 10,868,863 2023 14,524,727 2024 17,400,000 2025 19,800,000
Key Figures Summary
Nationalities
+ Tourists by nationality in Morocco (2012–2019) Nationality 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 1,769,710 1,782,056 1,798,190 1,563,568 1,449,757 1,614,011 1,844,397 1,990,813 730,882 682,834 683,761 626,896 615,720 710,729 814,069 880,818 357,347 403,325 476,550 504,475 458,561 486,262 510,516 551,499 199,349 237,852 255,124 286,328 260,255 331,185 394,328 413,384 196,186 234,912 254,209 227,961 219,334 246,312 305,505 351,916 140,045 160,033 167,267 181,468 197,858 254,531 304,960 346,702 255,290 272,593 267,308 243,815 238,984 259,658 273,535 272,328 204,767 210,859 191,158 183,349 182,379 214,016 237,539 241,065 Maghreb 219,280 270,227 213,675 195,214 209,823 207,885 214,295 227,281 6,899 7,871 9,403 10,515 42,844 107,434 132,081 141,050 Scandinavia 67,165 83,999 95,193 83,554 93,009 118,460 136,157 104,264 Moroccans Living Abroad (MRE) 4,363,427 4,722,931 4,845,491 5,025,058 5,228,527 5,484,427 5,609,607 5,889,254 Total 9,375,156 10,046,264 10,282,944 10,176,762 10,331,731 11,349,344 12,288,708 12,932,260
+ Tourists by nationality in Morocco (2020–2023) Country 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 412,179 493,933 1,505,443 1,999,121 200,136 99,495 901,672 1,304,276 113,258 56,435 481,905 679,326 79,077 38,894 171,219 280,788 57,105 52,588 239,879 335,110 54,103 66,991 231,006 331,557 40,603 64,996 172,608 226,495 40,909 34,591 129,922 192,381 Maghreb 49,240 46,265 117,656 159,587 20,529 4,762 27,979 59,719 106,000 Scandinavia 22,119 12,670 52,080 81,965 Moroccans living abroad MRE 1,369,808 2,437,367 5,804,083 7,374,733 Total 2,777,802 3,721,702 10,868,863 14,524,727
Tourism industry
Tourist receipts in 2007 totaled US$7.55 billion. Tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner in Morocco, after the phosphate industry. The Moroccan government is heavily investing in tourism development. A new tourism strategy called Vision 2010 was developed after the accession of King Mohammed VI in 1999. The government targeted that Morocco will have 10 million visitors by 2010, with the hope that tourism will then have risen to 20% of GDP. Government-sponsored marketing campaigns to attract tourists advertised Morocco as a cheap, exotic, and safe place for European tourists.
Morocco's relatively high number of tourists has been aided by its location, tourist attractions, and relatively low price. Cruise ships visit the ports of Casablanca and Tangier. Morocco is close to Europe and attracts visitors to its beaches. Because of its proximity to Spain, tourists in southern Spain's coastal areas take one- to three-day trips to Morocco. Marrakesh and Agadir are the top two destinations in the country. Air services between Morocco and Algeria have been established, many Algerians have gone to Morocco to shop and visit family and friends. Morocco is relatively inexpensive because of the interesting dirham exchange rate compared to major currencies and the increase of hotel prices in neighbouring Spain. Morocco has an excellent road and rail infrastructure that links the major cities and tourist destinations with ports and cities with international airports. Low-cost airlines offer cheap flights to the country.
Plan Azur The "Plan Azur", is a large-scale project initiated by King Mohammed VI, is meant to provide for creating six coastal resorts for holiday-home owners and tourists (five on the Atlantic coast and one on the Mediterranean), the Daily Telegraph noted. The plan also includes other large-scale development projects such as upgrading regional airports to attract budget airlines, and building new train and road links. Through these efforts the country achieved an 11% percent rise in tourism in the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year, it said, adding that French visitors topped the list with 927,000 followed by Spaniards (587,000) and Britons (141,000). Morocco, which is close to Europe, has a mix of culture and the exotic that makes it popular with Europeans buying holiday homes.
Tourist attractions
The country's attractions can be divided into seven regions: The four Imperial cities — the four historical capital cities of Morocco: Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes and Rabat Casablanca — Morocco's largest city; home of the Hassan II Mosque, which has the world's second tallest minaret at 656 feet Tangier and the surrounding area Ouarzazate — a noted film-making location; the fortified village (ksar) of Ait Benhaddou west of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site Agadir and its beach resorts Tarfaya and its beach resorts Fez – Morocco's second largest city, considered by some the science and spiritual capital of Morocco. It contains an old area which is considered the biggest area in the world where vehicles can't get in. It is also the home of "Al Qarawyien" the world's oldest university. Merzouga – Merzouga is a small village in southeastern Morocco in the desert. Agafay – The Agafay desert is a desert located about thirty kilometers from the red city of Marrakesh, on the first heights of the High Atlas massif in Morocco. This is a reg several hundred hectares in area. It is covered with stones and rocks in a hilly environment of white and ochre-coloured dunes.
While Morocco was a French Protectorate (from 1912 to 1956) tourism was focused on urban areas such as the Mediterranean cities of Tangier and Casablanca. Tangier attracted many writers, such as Edith Wharton, Jack Kerouac, Paul Bowles, and William S. Burroughs. There was a period of beach resort development at places such as Agadir on the Atlantic coast in the 1970s and 1980s.
Tourism is increasingly focused on Morocco's culture, such as its ancient cities. The modern tourist industry capitalizes on Morocco's ancient Roman and Islamic sites, and on its landscape and cultural history. 60% of Morocco's tourists visit for its culture and heritage.
Agadir is a major coastal resort and has a third of all Moroccan bed nights. It is a base for tours to the Atlas Mountains. Other resorts in north Morocco are also very popular. Casablanca is the major cruise port in Morocco, and has the best developed market for tourists in Morocco.
As of 2006, activity and adventure tourism in the Atlas and Rif Mountains are the fastest growth area in Moroccan tourism. These locations have excellent walking and trekking opportunities from late March to mid-November. The government is investing in trekking circuits. They are also developing desert tourism in competition with Tunisia.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites Morocco is home to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites.