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Today, it has left both those countries in the dust. Its visitor numbers have doubled, doubled and then doubled again, and they show no signs of slowing down.

Tourism to the country has rocketed since 2019. Seven years ago, 12,932,734 visited Morocco. Last year, that had jumped to 19,792,604 – a 53% rise. In 2024 alone, the number of visitors shot up 20%, according to the OECD.

This is no random spike, but a steady pattern of growth that Morocco’s government has been working on since 2023.

“Convinced of the uniqueness of the Moroccan destination and its ability to compete with major global destinations, the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts, and Social and Solidarity Economy has developed an ambitious vision: to host 26 million tourists by 2030,” reads the Tourism Roadmap.

Now this rush for growth is being doubled down on. The North African country ‌is riding a wave of publicity from its quarter-final run in the latest World Cup, having become the first African and Arab side to reach the semi-finals in Qatar four years ago.

After crashing out nobly to semi-finalists France, Morocco announced 60,000 more hotel beds would be ready by 2030, when it co-hosts the World Cup. That’s a 20% rise on current numbers.

The government is pouring ​more than 190 billion dirhams (about £15 billion) into expanding rail, road, airports, stadiums and other urban infrastructure ahead of the 2030 tournament.

Getting there to use them is becoming increasingly easy. Airlines such as Royal Air Maroc, Iberia, and Ryanair have expanded their route networks. New UK routes include Royal Air Maroc’s service from London Gatwick to Tetouan, British Airways’ connections to Rabat, and easyJet’s new winter links from Birmingham to Agadir and Newcastle to Marrakech.

Tickets from UK airports to Marrakech are regularly on sale for as little as £25.

Moroccan international airline capacity from Western Europe reached 6.4 million seats for the winter 2024/25 season, a 19% increase on the prior winter, while capacity to Central/Eastern Europe grew by 45% year-on-year.

While France remains the leading source of tourists, with over three million French visitors in 2024, Spain sent over two million. Newer markets are expanding fast. British visitor numbers are now over the one million mark, while travellers from the US and Gulf countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are piling into Morocco’s luxury resorts.

The scale of this shift is significant regionally. Morocco has overtaken Egypt in international tourist arrivals. Morocco welcomed 17.4 million tourists in 2024 compared with 15.7 million visitors to Egypt.

While destinations like Marrakech have seen a 40% year-over-year surge in overnight stays, other parts of Morocco are relatively quiet. Visitor numbers to Rabat remain relatively flat, having seen a 3% rise in a year.

Despite being Morocco’s political and cultural capital, the Unesco-inscribed city is rarely visited.

There are plenty of reasons why a trip to Rabat is a good idea. Last year Unesco named Rabat its 2026 World Book Capital, thanks to its long literary heritage and 54 publishing houses. The streets are filled with indie bookshops and historic libraries, while one of the largest book fairs on the continent descends on Rabat each year.

According to Farah Cherif D’Ouezzan, founder and director of Rabat’s Center for Cross-Cultural Learning, the city’s appeal is found in how peaceful and quiet it is.

“You can feel centuries of history in our streets, monuments and museums, all while enjoying the cool ocean breeze and the city’s surprisingly green vibe,” D’Ouezzan told the BBC.

“It is almost too quiet, as locals simply go about their day with no grabby shopkeepers, loud moped horns or oppressively crowded alleyways.”