“Before, with 200 dirhams, I could cross the Atlas and come back with a good tagine to the key. Today, I spend that just for a lunch, ”says Mehdi, a tourist from Fez, on vacation in Marrakech with his partner. Faced with the vertiginous price increase, the couple was forced to review their plans. “Even small riads have doubled their prices. We had to reduce the length of our stay, ”confides the partner to Hespress.
To read: in Morocco, the priced prices spoils the summer of tourists
Many visitors, national and foreign, face this harsh reality of the inflation of tourist services prices. “We have come to Morocco since 2017, but we have never seen such increases. Excursions cost almost as much as in Europe, ”is indignant on social networks a foreign tourist on vacation in Agadir.
To read: When the holidays in Morocco become a luxury
Disillusionment is large among professionals who hoped for an influx of visitors to bail out their boxes. “We have increased the prices a little to follow the costs, but we lost customers. Tourists ask for the cards, take a look and leave, “laments Rachid, managing a small restaurant in the medina in Rabat. Bouregreg’s boatmen in Rabat live the same reality. “Local customers have melted as snow in the sun. They all say the same thing: “It’s too expensive”, deplores Hamid, a boatman for 15 years.
To read: The priced prices leads the holidays of Moroccans
Same observation in the north of the kingdom. In Saïdia, tourists invade the beaches and abandon the terraces that remain desperately empty. “Prices have exploded: accommodation, catering, fuel, plane tickets, everything is more expensive. This trend clearly dissuades Moroccans residing in the country, but also the MRE. Many choose to shorten their stays or stay in the family instead of going to the hotel, ”explains the expert in tourism Zoubir Bouhoute.
Read: Morocco: Bagped beach holidays
And to add: “We bet on mechanical growth, but we forgot that the purchasing power of tourists, in particular Moroccans, was laminated”. To reverse the trend, the expert recommends a journal of pricing policies and better coordination between players in the sector. “Morocco has everything to please: diversity, heritage, sun. But if professionals do not revise their strategies, we run straight towards a lasting disaffection, “says Bouhoute who believes that Morocco” is the victim of [son] own success ”.
