Innovative property investments
Investment property in Morocco
Buying Guide
Introduction
Spices and souks
Morocco is a Kingdom of spices and souks, storytellers and snake charmers, sweeping silent deserts and imposing snow-capped mountains.
A country that is so near, barely 14km from the tip of southern Spain, yet so far from Europe and completely different in character from the western world.
There is however one man, the King of Morocco, His Majesty Mohammed VI, who intends to almost single-handedly bring long-term prosperity to the country by creating the necessary infrastructure to market Morocco to the world as a modern, high-end tourist destination.
Vision 2010
In a nutshell Morocco aims for 10 million tourists per year by 2010 (4.4 million arrived in 2001 and 5.8 million in 2005) and for the tourism sector to form 20% of the GDP by 2010.
To meet these targets 10 billion US dollars' worth of investment will be ploughed into training-up at least 70,000 professionals in the tourist business, building new resorts, infrastructure, 160,000 new hotel beds and leisure and catering facilities, the majority of which are destined for the coast.
An attractive destination
Holders of UK, US, Irish, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand or another EU country passport do not need a visa to enter Morocco for up to 90 days and interest from these countries is high.
In a 2006 TripAdvisor survey, Morocco appeared no less than twice in the 'top ten hot world destinations for 2007' with Marrakesh at number five and Fez at number ten.
Read any travel magazine, glance at any holiday programme and it's plain to see that Morocco is becoming a very trendy place to be.
Marrakesh, the main draw
Marrakesh is absolutely at the heart of this heightened interest, a city that is perpetually cool.
The exotic culture and ancient cityscape that attracted first-time-round hippies Jagger, Hendrix and Esther Freud in the 1960s still attracts modern-day hippies such as Sienna and Jude, Brad and Angelina, today plus gaggles of northern Europeans tempted over by low cost air fares.
Traditional riads have been converted into hip, boutique hotels, some affordable and others not so, such as the 1,000-euro-a-night Amanjena, and exquisite restaurants and chic nightclubs throng with the beautiful people until the early hours.
Diverse city and beach breaks
Morocco's other big cities do not allow Marrakesh to hog the limelight and offer their own unique flavours for visitors.
Agadir has 9km of golden sand lined with hotels ripe for the perfect beach holiday, facing Gibraltar is Tangier, the gateway to Morocco with its bustling seaport, modern Casablanca is modelled on Marseilles and feels reassuringly European whilst Fez is a remarkably in-tact Mediaeval city bursting with culture and dating back to 790 BC.
Active and cultural options
Sport-wise Morocco is more than well-equipped with golf, horse riding, camel riding, mountain trekking, Land Rover safaris across the desert, skiing in the Atlas resort of Oukaimeden just 74km from Marrakesh, fishing and all kinds of watersports on offer.
Morocco also has a pretty impressive calendar of internationally-known events to draw the crowds throughout the year.
Amongst the most notable are the Rallye du Maroc Classic (annual event open to cars built between 1930 and 1980), Marathon des Sables (the Sahara Marathon, the toughest footrace on earth, 243km of endurance every year), the annual Fez World Music Festival, Tangier Jazz Festival and Marrakesh Film Festivals.
Easy to get to
Morocco's recent participation in the EU 'Open Skies' regime opening Morocco's airspace to low cost carriers is instrumental for the continued success of Vision 2010.
Until 2006 just two airlines - Royal Air Maroc and British Airways - held the monopoly on flights and prices, but now any EU registered airline is free to fly into the country at any price, thus opening the floodgates for no-frills carriers.
In fact travel information company, OAG, predicts 99 flights a week between London and Marrakesh alone.
Passengers from the UK can already choose between RyanAir, Thomson Fly, EasyJet and Air Maroc's low-cost subsidiary, Atlas Blue, into Marrakesh, Fez, Agadir and Casablanca.
A Madrid to Casablanca route comes online from EasyJet in February 2007 and RyanAir have cemented a five-year agreement to develop 20 routes from their bases throughout Europe to most regional airports in Morocco, delivering one million passengers per year by the end of the five-year period.
Accessing Morocco from the Spanish coastline is also an option: from Algeciras to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta (35 minutes by hydrofoil) or to Tangier (one hour by fast ferry) and, in the near future, via a 39km tunnel under the water between Spain and Tangier, which when completed will make it possible to journey from Scotland to Morocco by train alone.
The King's 'Vision 2010' is now firmly underway and the face of Morocco is changing.
Key facts
- Population: 33,241,259 (July 2006)
- Area (km2): 446,550
- Capital: Rabat (since 1912, taking over from Marrakesh)
- Languages: Arabic (official), plus Berber dialects and French is often used in business and government
- Religion: 98.7% Muslim, tiny Christian and Jewish minorities
- Currency: Moroccan dirham (MAD) 1 MAD = 0.06 GDP
- Dialling Code: +212
- High Season: Peak tourist season June - September, although can be very hot and crowded, October - April warm, but more comfortable
- Happy Planet Index: 37th / 178
- Big Mac Index: 2.82 USD
Downloadable Reports and Documents
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