The Kingdom of Morocco is now the most popular tourist destination in Africa, thanks to its undeniable assets, its diverse tourism offer and its strategy, South African news website “Businesstech” reported.
In an article entitled “Two African countries beating South Africa at its own game,” the newspaper stated that Morocco has received a total of 17.4 million visitors in 2024, which has officially given it the edge over Egypt, the previous tourism leader on the continent, and who also shattered its own arrival record, welcoming 15.7 million visitors in the previous year.
Morocco’s new tourism benchmark marks an astounding 20% jump from 2023 and more than a 33% increase over 2019 pre-pandemic levels, the article stressed, adding that this figure also places the Kingdom of Light two years ahead of its tourism projections.
The article also pointed out that it’s not just volume where Morocco is winning, but the country also saw tourism revenue reach new highs in 2024, bringing in a total of $11 billion over the 12-month period, compared to $10.5 billion in 2023.
“These remarkable figures represent a major step towards our goal of positioning Morocco among the top 15 global tourist destinations,” the South African outlet stressed, quoting Morocco’s Minister of Tourism, Handicraft and Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor.
It also noted that these results come at the start of a year in which Morocco will be hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, an event that’s expected to draw football fans from around the world. “Given the Moroccan national soccer team’s historic performance at the World Cup in 2022, when it became the first on the continent to reach the semifinals, it will probably inspire plenty of domestic tourism, too,” the newspaper added.
“Businesstech” added that by 2030, when the country is set to co-host the FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, Morocco projects it will be receiving 26 million tourists—exceeding the current number by yet another 50%.
In this respect, the newspaper noted that both UN Tourism and the World Travel & Tourism Council confirm that North African nations outpace sub-Saharan ones in terms of tourism volume.
Morocco and Egypt “play in a league of their own when it comes to tourism on the continent, with safari-centric, sub-Saharan countries like South Africa and Botswana earning a small fraction of North Africa’s visitors and tourism dollars each year,” it wrote.
Speaking of South Africa, the newspaper stressed that while tourism is seen as a vital contributor to GDP growth for the country, its tourist numbers for 2023 show that over 8 million foreigners entered South Africa – far below that of Morocco and Egypt.
