By Leebawit Lily Girma, Bloomberg News
Just over a year since a devastating earthquake hit the high mountains of Atlas, on the outskirts of Marrakech, Morocco now claims to be the most visited destination in Africa. In 2024, the country received a total of 17.4 million visitors, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
That officially has given him the advantage over Egypt, the previous tourist leader in the contine Each African nation, both UN tourism and tourism and the World Travel and Tourism Council confirms that Nations of North Africa exceed sub -Saharan in terms of tourism volume.
The new Tourism Reference Point of Morocco marks an amazing 20% jump from 2023 and more than a 33% increase on presitmus levels of 2019 when Arabic destination received 13 million visitors. He has also put the kingdom of light two years ahead of his tourist projections.
“These notable figures represent an important step towards our goal of positioning Morocco among the 15 main world tourist destinations,” said Minister of Tourism, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, in a press release. (To get to Top 15, Morocco would have to highlight Japan, who received 25 million international tourists in 2023, the most recent year for which UN tourism data is available).
It is not just a volume where Morocco is winning: the country also saw that tourism revenues reached new maximums in 2024, bringing a total of $ 11 billion during the 12 -month period, compared to $ 10.5 billion in 2023. Egypt obtains greater tourist expenses, for a total $ 14.1 billion last year. The two countries play in their own league when it comes to tourism in the continent, with sub -Saharan countries focused on safari such as South Africa and Botswana that earn a small fraction of visitors and tourist dollars in North Africa every year.
Among the factors that have allowed the growth of Morocco, which AMMOR pointed out in a publication on social networks: 120 airline routes introduced in 2024, including a non -scales flight from Newark to Marrakh in United Airlines, in addition to new brands from brands of brands of Luxury as Four Seasons and Nobu and Nobu throughout the country. Ammor also cited the expansion of Royal Mansour, which in April opened a second hotel in Casablanca, as another reason why the Jet Set has been inspired to delay more on a Moroccan vacation, and venture beyond the cultural capital of Marrakerh.
The results arrive at the beginning of a year in which Morocco will organize the African Nations Cup (from December 21 to January 18, 2026), an event that is expected to attract football fans around the world. Given the historical performance of the National Moroccan football team in the World Cup in 2022, when it became the first in the continent to reach the semifinals, it will probably also inspire a lot of national tourism.
By 2030, when the country is ready for Co-Emprerion of the FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, Morocco projects that it will receive 26 million tourists, exceeding the current number in another 50%.
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