Fatim-Zahra Ammor: “We have found the recipe. We must keep implementing it to the end”

Key points:

• Fatim-Zahra Ammor was the guest of Médias24’s Le 12/13.
• Moroccan tourism posted record results in 2025: 19.8 million arrivals, MAD 138 billion in revenue and a 7.3% contribution to GDP, exceeding the targets set by the 2023-2026 roadmap.
• The average tourist spend reached MAD 7,000, up 8%, while the concentration of overnight stays in Marrakech and Agadir fell from 60% to 52%.
• Several weaknesses remain: insufficient supply for domestic tourism in summer, seasonality, training and accommodation quality.
• Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor announced a new unified hotel classification framework, a training program with OFPPT and the development of alternative accommodation to broaden supply.
• For 2026, the minister expects between 21 and 22 million arrivals and more than MAD 150 billion in revenue, with a medium-term ambition to break into the world’s top 15 destinations.
• The ministry is already working on the 2027-2030 roadmap, despite the upcoming legislative elections.

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In detail:

2025 will remain a benchmark year for Moroccan tourism, with record figures: 19.8 million arrivals, MAD 138 billion in travel receipts, the sector’s contribution to GDP rising to 7.3% from 6.8% in 2019, and 92,000 direct jobs created in three years.

These figures exceed the targets set by the 2023-2026 roadmap, but they do not erase the model’s structural weaknesses, particularly seasonality, training, domestic tourism and accommodation quality. These were all issues on which the minister spoke candidly.

Results that “owe nothing to chance”

For Fatim-Zahra Ammor, the 2025 results are not “an exceptional peak, but the outcome of a structuring model” based on four factors. She cited an ambitious vision driven at the highest level, a “clear roadmap, with precise and measurable objectives,” resources mobilized by the government, and the “methodical execution” of five levers: air connectivity, promotion, accommodation, entertainment and human resources.

“Tourism is an ecosystem. When you talk to an airline, if you do not have accommodation, they will not add flights; and vice versa, an investor will not invest if there are no flights. It is a very delicate balance that must be moved forward at the right pace,” she said.

On revenue, the minister added a nuance: “Tourism revenue is increasing faster than arrivals. In 2025, it rose by 21%, while volumes increased by only 14%.” The average tourist spend now stands at around MAD 7,000, up 8% year-on-year. “A very respectable level, comparable to France, which is at around 720 dollars,” the minister said.

The key to going further, according to her, remains the average length of stay, which is directly linked to the development of the seaside tourism product. “The reason Spain earns more revenue than France, even with fewer tourists, is that it is mainly seaside tourism. People stay at least nine or ten days, which is not the case with cultural tourism or a city break.”

Hotel classification: closing an eleven-year gap

Long criticized, the overconcentration of tourism activity in Marrakech and Agadir is declining. “When we arrived, these two destinations accounted for 60% of overnight stays. Today, they account for only 52%.” The logic of the roadmap, the minister explained, is to sell experiences rather than destinations. “Someone who wants to surf does not look for Taghazout. They look for where to surf, and we offer them Imsouane, Taghazout, Essaouira, Safi, Dakhla, the entire Atlantic corridor.”

For example, the Drâa-Tafilalet region recorded a 22% increase in overnight stays, driven by its positioning around the oasis and desert segment.

The announcement of mystery inspections to verify hotel classifications raised questions: why give advance notice? The minister defended the approach: “What we would like is for everyone to pass the test. That is our objective.” On the substance, she recalled that the system is provided for under Law 94 of 2015, “whose implementing decrees had simply not been published.”

It was this government that put them in place. Among the concrete changes claimed by the minister are construction standards now tied from the outset to the targeted star rating, a unified star classification for all types of accommodation, including riads, guesthouses, lodges and inns, and the inclusion of service quality in the evaluation criteria, alongside infrastructure and facilities.

Domestic tourism: demand outstrips supply

Domestic tourists account for 28% of overnight stays and remain the sector’s “number one customer.” But supply remains insufficient, especially in summer. “Demand exceeds supply. When someone tells you they prefer to go abroad because they found something cheaper, it is not because it is cheaper in absolute terms; it is because they can no longer find availability here.”

On price comparisons with Spain, the minister relied on platform data: “The average price of a five-star hotel in Morocco was 260 dollars last summer. It was 410 dollars in Spain and 460 in Greece. When someone tells me they found something cheaper in Spain, it is someone who wanted a five-star hotel in Morocco and ends up taking an apartment or a four-star hotel there because there is availability.”

She mentioned the development of alternative accommodation — cabins, caravans, unusual accommodation and camping — now regulated by the implementing decrees of Law 94, as well as efforts to reduce the seasonality of domestic demand through nature, trekking and mountain tourism segments.

Training: visible results, but with a time lag

On training and the outflow of talent, the minister rejected alarmism. “If people come looking for our talent, it is because they are well trained.” She cited a telling indicator. At the Higher International Institute of Tourism (ISIT) in Tangier, the ratio of applicants per available place has risen from 4 in 2019 to 46 today. “The tourism sector is no longer chosen by default.”

She announced that a training program is under way with OFPPT, including schools of excellence and middle management modules. ISIT Tangier annexes have been opened in Marrakech and Agadir. On wages, a study has just been launched to obtain a clearer picture of pay levels in the hotel and restaurant industry. “It is a sector that did not pay very well for a category of employees. We want to break out of this negative spiral.”

Asked about booking platforms, the minister was unequivocal: “It is a huge opportunity in terms of visibility and access to the market. No Moroccan operator would have direct access to such a database.” She nevertheless urged hoteliers to develop their own direct booking channels in order to reduce their dependence.

On the idea of a competing Moroccan super app, she was categorical, saying that “we cannot compete with platforms that have twenty-five years of technological development behind them. No one has managed to do it, not even the most developed countries. That is not the right battle.”

2026 and beyond...

For 2026, the minister expects between “21 and 22 million arrivals and more than MAD 150 billion” in revenue. Above all, she said the ministry’s teams are already working on the 2027-2030 roadmap, five months before the legislative elections. “We have decided to work until the last day. Those who come after us will decide whether or not to follow what we will have set out in writing.”

What is the stated ambition? “To break into the world’s top 15 destinations.” Asked about the top 10, the minister said that was a medium-term goal. “I think 15 is good.”

She concluded: “I think we have found the recipe. We must keep implementing it properly to the end.”