Two African countries beating South Africa at its own game

Just over a year after a devastating earthquake struck the High Atlas Mountains, on the outskirts of Marrakech, Morocco now claims to be the most visited destination in Africa.

In 2024, the country received a total of 17.4 million visitors, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

That has officially given it the edge over Egypt, the previous tourism leader on the continent, and who also shattered its own arrival record, welcoming 15.7 million visitors in 2024.

While no governing body tracks arrival numbers for every African nation, both UN Tourism and the World Travel & Tourism Council confirm that North African nations outpace sub-Saharan ones in terms of tourism volume.

Morocco’s new tourism benchmark marks an astounding 20% jump from 2023 and more than a 33% increase over 2019 pre-pandemic levels when the Arabian destination received 13 million visitors. It has also put the Kingdom of Light two years ahead of its tourism projections.

“These remarkable figures represent a major step towards our goal of positioning Morocco among the top 15 global tourist destinations,” Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor said in a press release.

(To make the top 15 currently, Morocco would have to unseat Japan, which received 25 million international tourists in 2023, the most recent year for which UN Tourism data is available.)

It’s not just volume where Morocco is winning: The country also saw tourism revenue reach new highs in 2024, bringing in a total of $11 billion over the 12-month period, compared to $10.5 billion in 2023.

Egypt pulls in higher tourism spending, totalling $14.1 billion last year.

The two countries play in a league of their own when it comes to tourism on the continent, with safari-centric, sub-Saharan countries like South Africa and Botswana earning a small fraction of North Africa’s visitors and tourism dollars each year. 

Tourism is seen as a vital contributor to GDP growth for South Africa, with the nation’s natural beauty and wildlife often seen as a selling point in bringing in international currency.

However, South Africa’s tourist numbers for 2023, the latest full-year data available, show that over 8 million foreigners entered South Africa – far below that of Morocco and Egypt.

Tourists’ total foreign direct spending (TFDS) reached R95 billion in 2023, equivalent to $4.9 billion.

Among the factors that have enabled Morocco’s growth, which Ammor pointed to in a social media post: 120 airline routes introduced in 2024, including a nonstop flight from Newark to Marrakesh on United Airlines, plus new hotels from luxury brands such as Four Seasons and Nobu all throughout the country.

Ammor also cited the expansion of Royal Mansour, which in April opened a second hotel in Casablanca, as another reason the jet set has been inspired to linger longer on a Moroccan vacation—and venture beyond the culture capital of Marrakesh. 

The results come at the start of a year in which Morocco will be hosting the Africa Cup of Nations (from Dec. 21 to Jan. 18, 2026), an event that’s expected to draw soccer fans from around the world.

Given the Moroccan national soccer team’s historic performance at the World Cup in 2022, when it became the first on the continent to reach the semifinals, it will probably inspire plenty of domestic tourism, too.

By 2030, when the country is set to co-host the FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, Morocco projects it will be receiving 26 million tourists—exceeding the current number by yet another 50%.

South African data added to original Bloomberg article

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