Marrakech – Morocco’s tourism sector hit a new historic benchmark in October as it posted one of its strongest results to date, with travel revenues reaching MAD 113.26 billion ($11.3 billion) through the first ten months of the year.
This figure already surpasses the kingdom’s entire 2024 tourism earnings of MAD 112.5 billion ($11.25 billion), marking a 16.7% year-on-year increase compared to MAD 97.04 billion ($9.7 billion) recorded during the same period in 2024.
The Office of Foreign Exchange reported that tourism expenditures increased by 11.5% to MAD 27.54 billion ($2.75 billion), resulting in an improved travel balance surplus of MAD 85.71 billion ($8.57 billion), representing an 18.5% improvement.
Tourist arrivals complemented the revenue growth, with the North African country welcoming 16.6 million visitors during the first ten months of 2025.
This represents a 14% increase from the previous year, according to Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor. The performance has positioned Morocco among the world’s top 20 most dynamic destinations, securing 13th place globally according to UN Tourism rankings.
The accommodation capacity expanded significantly to support this growth. Since 2023, Morocco has added 43,000 new beds across the kingdom to meet increasing tourist demand.
The 2024 tourism performance provides important context for current achievements. Last year’s record-breaking MAD 112.5 billion ($11.25 billion) in travel revenues represented a 7.5% increase from 2023’s MAD 104.7 billion ($10.47 billion).
Tourism expenditures in 2024 reached MAD 29.4 billion ($2.94 billion), showing a 22.9% increase, while maintaining a positive balance of MAD 83.1 billion ($8.31 billion).
Morocco’s tourism strategy extends beyond traditional visitor attraction. This month, the Moroccan National Tourism Office (ONMT) launched a comprehensive “Morocco, Land of Football” campaign in partnership with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The campaign features national team stars Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Diaz in a 90-second film broadcasting across 12 countries.
ONMT Director General Achraf Fayda explained that the initiative combines football’s power to promote Morocco as a world-class tourist destination.
The office conducted European promotional tours targeting African diaspora communities and organized professional meetings with African tour operators to develop specialized AFCON packages.
Africa, Europe, Atlantic intersect in Morocco
Morocco’s tourism ambitions in the coming years are not simply about attracting more visitors; they are about repositioning the country as a strategic experience hub at the crossroads of Africa, Europe, and the Atlantic.
Beyond the classic image of Marrakech, Fez, and desert tours, Moroccan policymakers are increasingly framing tourism as a sovereign tool of soft power, regional leadership, and territorial integration, especially with projects like Dakhla, Laayoune, and the Atlantic façade.
The goal is to move from a seasonal, price-sensitive destination to a diversified ecosystem combining luxury tourism, nature and adventure tourism, cultural and religious heritage routes, digital nomadism, and major-event tourism (AFCON 2025, World Cup 2030, international conferences and festivals).
In this vision, tourism is less a “sector” and more a platform that pulls infrastructure, aviation, renewable energy, culture, and territorial development into a single narrative of “modern Morocco.”
At the same time, Morocco’s tourism ambitions are increasingly bound up with questions of identity and imagination: what image of the country does it want the world to see?
The answer seems to be a Morocco that is proudly African yet Mediterranean, rooted in deep history yet fluent in global modernity – a place where reinvented medinas, high-speed trains, port megaprojects, and Atlantic resorts all serve one story: that Morocco is stable, open, and future-oriented in a turbulent region.
The real challenge for the coming years will not just be to hit numerical targets, but to ensure that tourism development remains socially inclusive (beyond a few enclaves), environmentally sustainable, and geopolitically intelligent. Only thus can the country truly turn visitors from mere consumers of landscapes into witnesses of a long-term national project.
Read also: Morocco Wins ‘Destination of the Year’ at 2025 Travel Awards in Brussels
