Morocco’s Tourism Numbers Jump as Country Preps to Be World Cup Ready

Morocco has had one of its best years for tourism as the North African country shows that it is ready to co-host the FIFA World Cup in 2030.

The country had 15.9 million tourists by the end of November 2024, the Ministry of Tourism announced in a press release, a 20% increase over last year.

Morocco’s tourism recovery gained momentum with a 23% increase in international visitors.

In November alone, the country had 1.3 million travelers, a 31% jump compared to the same month in 2023.

Morocco’s Minister of Tourism Fatim-Zahra Ammor said: “This is an unprecedented milestone in the dynamic history of Moroccan tourism. These remarkable figures prove the impact of our roadmap and represent a major step towards our goal of positioning Morocco among the top 15 global tourist destinations.”  

Getting Ready for the World Cup

The new figures came out at the same time as Morocco’s co-hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2030 was ratified by FIFA.

Morocco will host a third of the games in 2030 with Spain and Portugal as the other two host nations. Matches will take place across Rabat, Tangier, Marrakech, Agadir, Fez, in addition to the Grand Stadium of Casablanca. Morocco, Spain, and Portugal will host 101 games of the World Cup, while Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina will host one opening game each.

The country hasn’t broken down traveler targets for the event yet, but we know Morocco expects 26 million tourists in the year it is co-hosting the games, almost double the number of travelers seen in 2023 (14.5 million), according to targets announced in 2022.

The country is expanding three major airports: Marrakech, Casablanca, and Agadir.

To attract more international visitors, Morocco is investing heavily in its aviation sector. National carrier Royal Air Maroc plans to expand its fleet to 200 aircraft by 2037, while the country’s airport capacity is set to double, reaching over 90 million passengers by 2035.

The country is also adding 150,000 new hotel rooms by 2030.

Hilton this week announced it is accelerating its plans to more than double its portfolio in Morocco with the signing of nine hotels across seven of its brands, including the debut of Waldorf in the capital city of Rabat, as well as the introduction of LXR, Curio Collection by Hilton, and Hampton by Hilton brands to the country.

Carlos Khneisser, vice president of development, Middle East and Africa at Hilton said in a statement: “These nine new signings will add more than 1,300 rooms and around 1,500 members to Hilton’s growing portfolio in Morocco, where we plan to expand our footprint to over 20 hotels in the coming years.”