Just over a year after a\u00a0devastating earthquake\u00a0struck the High Atlas Mountains, on the outskirts of Marrakech, Morocco now claims to be the most visited destination in Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2024, the country\u00a0received\u00a0a total of 17.4 million visitors, according to the Ministry of Tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That has officially given it the edge over\u00a0Egypt, the previous tourism leader on the continent, and who also shattered its own\u00a0arrival record, welcoming 15.7 million visitors in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While no governing body tracks arrival numbers for every African nation, both UN\u00a0Tourism and the\u00a0World Travel & Tourism Council\u00a0confirm that North African nations outpace sub-Saharan ones in terms of tourism volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morocco\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese remarkable figures\u00a0represent a major step towards our goal of positioning Morocco among the top 15 global tourist destinations,\u201d\u00a0Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor said in a press release. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(To make the top 15 currently, Morocco would have to unseat\u00a0Japan, which received 25 million international tourists in 2023, the most recent year for which\u00a0UN Tourism data\u00a0is available.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s 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,\u00a0compared to $10.5 billion in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egypt pulls in higher tourism spending, totalling $14.1 billion last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s\u00a0visitors and tourism dollars each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n