Can tourism become a victim of its own success?

There is no understating the importance of tourism to many developed and developing economies. Ever since the cost of holidays and foreign travel began to drop in the late 1960s and 1970s, particularly in Europe, a new era of package holidays began. Popular European destinations such as Spain, Turkey and Greece beckoned, and in their wake came others including countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Following the Gulf War and continuing upheaval in countries such as Algeria, Libya, Syria and more recently in Israel/Palestine, Morocco has become an even more popular destination and one of the main reasons often offered by visitors is that it ‘is a safe place to come to’. In 2024, Morocco generated over $11 billion in tourism revenue. This is a record figure. Tourism today employs nearly one million workers directly and indirectly, and it contributes very significantly to the country's economy. To get another handle on the importance of tourism to Morocco, it currently accounts for around 7 per cent of Morocco’s Gross Domestic product. Today Morocco finds itself in the envied position of even surpassing its own targets for tourist numbers.

But what if tourism becomes too successful for its own good? This is a question that is now being asked increasingly in tourist hot spots such as Venice, where extra charging has been introduced to control the huge number of tourists and in other parts of Europe, where holiday homes have exploded in numbers leaving local people outpriced and if they remain, outnumbered. There have been loud demonstrations against the tourist influx and demands for action in several European countries.

And then there is the danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg by turning traditional towns and villages into places that tour operators think that tourists will like, but which end up being pastiches of what used to be there. There have, for instance, been major developments across the kingdom over the past decade, in Taghazout Bay and the Rabat Marina and Bouregreg Valley urban renewal project, which is to be completed in 2025. But many tourists are attracted to a Morocco that is often being torn down to make way for the new tourist centres. For instance, Old Oulja, a traditional artisan and craft areas near Rabat was recently bulldozed to make way for new facilities in a not unfamiliar story of the old being seen to be getting in the way of the new. This is a story that has been repeated in many places, satisfying neither the local people who have been obliged to uproot and start over again, while not necessarily being attractive to tourists either. 

Tourism can become a victim of its own success. Keeping the best of what attracts people in the first place and the making sure that local people benefit from a managed flow of tourists seems to be the key to a healthy tourist industry.

*Mark Seddon is a former Speechwriter to UN Secretary-General Ban ki moon & former Adviser to the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly