French tourists, traditionally the first nationality of visitors to the Kingdom, have chosen Morocco as their third favorite destination, after Spain and Italy. The French are followed by tourists from Spain, Germany, Britain and other major outbound markets, including Israel and Italy …
Indeed, according to a Trip.com survey that reveals an analysis of emerging trends and preferences that define the European travel landscape this summer, the Kingdom for French tourists, ranks third in the top 10 favorite countries. The list of destinations for French tourists is thus composed of Spain, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Algeria, Tunisia, Thailand, Turkey and Greece.
In terms of cities, New York, Lisbon and Marrakech occupy the podium of the most sought-after destinations by French travellers. The demand for New York persists, although its cost is higher than that of Lisbon or Marrakech. Other privileged places, the European capitals like London, Athens or Rome attract the French traveler while elsewhere Montreal, Pointe-à-Pitre or Bangkok are not left out. Seaside towns like Porto or Barcelona remain privileged refuges for French holidaymakers. In France, Paris and Marseille are also attractive.
That said and more generally, with the approach of summer, it goes without saying that summer visitors around the world are preparing for their holidays. Data from Trip.com reveals that global summer bookings (June 1 to August 31) have surpassed those of 2019, with short-haul travel leading this summer. Overall, bookings on the Trip.com platform for Europe increased by 72% compared to the same period in 2022 and by 609% compared to summer 2019.
Andy Washington, Group General Manager for EMEA, Trip.com (Europe Middle East & Africa), said: “ We’re delighted to report that global summer bookings on Trip.com are up 72% for Europe compared to 2022, with short-haul flights leading the way “.
This summer, according to the institution, the trend for European travelers is for short-haul flights, which represent 67.3% of all flight bookings. While long-haul travel bookings have hit double-digits, they still represent just 13.2% of all bookings, far behind the 47.5% recorded in 2019.
Morocco, whose flight time slots to Europe oscillate between two and four hours, can eye a good market share there. Especially since this summer, French travelers are staying close to home, (the Mediterranean and its cultural riches) and Morocco with its double coastline like Spain should be one of the popular destinations.
Proximity and familiarity also play a major role with French tourists who select places close to home with historical importance, famous monuments and museums, which the Kingdom does not lack. He also puts these assets sought by French travelers and others so that 2023 makes us forget the Dame Covid years.
The first quarter of the year 2023 of its almost 3 million tourists is the harbinger that national tourism is heading for new records. This is an increase of more than 17% compared to the same period of its predecessor. Moreover, at the end of May, 5.1 million tourist arrivals were recorded. These are therefore 1.1 million more arrivals compared to the reference year (2019), according to the Ministry of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy which considers 2023 as “a year of rupture” for Moroccan tourism, with double-digit growth.