Moroccan tourism startups build momentum ahead of World Cup

February 13, 2025, 7:56 AM

A tourist takes pictures in Chefchaouen, northern Morocco. The country's tourism startup culture is opening new markets beyond the traditional centres

Innovators focus on heritage
20% rise in tourists in 2024
Local SMEs benefit

Startup innovation and entrepreneurship are helping to fuel growth in Morocco’s tourism industry.

The sector’s importance to the economy is increasing as the country prepares to co-host the Fifa World Cup in 2030.

Morocco welcomed 17.4 million international tourists in 2024, a 20 percent increase on 2023, the latest data from the UN World Tourism Organisation (WTO) shows.

Morocco is the number one country in Africa when it comes to the tourism startup system and receipts of foreign direct investment (FDI), Natalia Bayona, the WTO’s executive director, told AGBI.

Over the past five years Morocco has averaged $3.5 billion in FDI annually across all sectors of the economy, according to the WTO. During 2014 to 2023 $2.2 billion of FDI went into tourism specifically.

Innovation in the startup sector translates into earnings for the Moroccan economy. Last year tourism revenue reached more than $11 billion.

Crucially, Bayona said, tourism startups, and many others across the country like them, enjoy success because they build on and market Morocco’s cultural heritage, offering them a competitive advantage.

“They are focusing on preserving heritage, and promoting local small and medium enterprises,” she said.

A number of the country’s new businesses were recognised in a recent competition run by the WTO and the Moroccan Agency for Tourism Development.

The winner of the competition, Ecodome, builds eco-friendly tourist accommodation that is customised for each region of Morocco. One of the runners-up, Pikala, runs cycle tours through Morocco’s cities; another, Wanaut, is a digital platform that collates experiences for tourists and locals to access events across the country.

Vincenzo Zappino, senior partner at the Italian tourism consultancy Target Euro, said: “Morocco is growing rapidly but is still in its early stages compared to more mature ecosystems in Europe or North America. The startup culture within the sector is still developing.”

The growing tourism startup culture is helping the country diversify its offering, extend visitor stays and open new markets beyond traditional tourism centres such as Marrakech and Fez, Zappino said.

“The growing number of incubators, accelerators and funding programmes is further accelerating this positive shift,” he said.

Morocco is also preparing for further expansion of its tourism industry.

Last month the minister of transport and logistics said the country will invest around $4 billion in airport expansion projects by 2030, in anticipation of the World Cup that Morocco is hosting alongside Spain and Portugal.

More than 32 million passengers, both international visitors and domestic travellers, used Morocco’s airports last year.

Authorities expect this figure to almost double to 60 million in 2030 and triple to 90 million in 2035.