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Preparations for the Africa Cup and the 2030 FIFA World Cup football games have catapulted Morocco to the forefront of Africa’s tourism destinations.
Morocco received a record number of foreign tourists in 2025 to overtake Egypt for the second year running despite a sharp rise in the number of visitors to that country.
Morocco, which has always been a major tourism destination over the past decades, received a record 19.8 million tourists last year, MediTV and other local media outlets said, citing data by the tourism ministry.
The figure was nearly 14 percent above the record number recorded in 2024, the report said, adding that last year’s number maintained Morocco’s top tourism rank in Africa.
Egypt, also a major tourism destination, received around 19 million visitors last year, nearly 21 percent increase year on year, reflecting a strong rebound but leaving it narrowly behind its North African neighbor in absolute arrivals.
The data underline a sustained post-pandemic recovery for both countries, long seen as pillars of Africa’s tourism industry, while confirming that Morocco has remained ahead in total arrivals since at least 2024.
Morocco’s performance has been supported by expanded air connectivity, including new routes linking secondary cities to European and Gulf hubs, as well as increased capacity from low-cost and legacy carriers.
The country has also benefited from event-driven travel, notably the hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations, alongside continued investment in urban tourism, coastal resorts and desert destinations, as part of a broader push to position tourism as a central pillar of economic expansion ahead of major international events.
Officials said last year they expect the number of tourists to Morocco to reach 26 million by 2030, when it will co-host the world cup games along with Spain and Portugal.
Egypt has also set a target of 20 million tourists in 2026 and over 30 million in 2031 following the opening of the grand museum last year.
Morocco’s airport authority said in a recent report that the surge in tourists was a result of heavy investments within the 2023-2026 tourism roadmap, including strengthened air connectivity, international promotion, and diversification of tourism products.
Tourism revenues were estimated at around 113.26 billion Moroccan dirhams ($11.3 billion) in the first 10 months of 2025, exceeding the entire 2024 total earnings of nearly MAD 112.5 billion (11.2 billion). Tourism’s contribution to GDP increased from 6.8 percent to 7.3 percent during that period.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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