Morocco welcomed 4.3 million tourists during the first quarter of the current year, marking an increase of 7% year-on-year.
Tourism: Driven by sustained momentum in the tourism sector, travel receipts continued to grow in the first quarter of the year, confirming the strategic role of tourism in the national economy. This performance is part of a generally favorable context, marked by an increase in the Moroccan tourist offer and a continued increase in the flow of international visitors.
The travel scale maintains its balance. The figures drawn up by the Foreign Exchange Office confirm this trend. Indeed, the balance shows a positive balance for the first three months of the year, an improvement of 31.4%. It thus amounts to 23.68 billion dirhams in consolidation of 5.66 billion dirhams compared to the same period of the previous year. This dynamic is driven by the good performance of travel revenues. The latter increased by almost 24% while spending increased by 3.4%. The revenue generated thus stood at around 31 billion dirhams compared to 25.09 billion dirhams during the same period last year. A dynamic welcomed by the Ministry of Tourism, Crafts and the Solidarity Economy. By commenting on this performance, the authority confirms that it is part of a positive overall dynamic. Morocco, in fact, welcomed 4.3 million tourists during the first quarter of the current year, marking an increase of 7% year-on-year. Beyond the volume, they reflect a positive evolution of the Moroccan tourism offer, which is gaining in maturity and in its capacity to generate more value.
“This revenue dynamic reflects an increasingly significant economic impact on local ecosystems,” explains Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor. And to recall: “Our objective is to consolidate this trajectory, by continuing to develop and diversify the offer, improve the experience, and strengthen the capacity of the sector to create value in all regions of the Kingdom”. In parallel with the travel balance, the services balance maintains its surplus on the rise. At the end of March it stood at 38.70 billion dirhams compared to 33.34 billion dirhams, an increase of 5.35 billion dirhams over the same period of the previous year (16.1%). On the other hand, the trade balance saw its deficit worsen by 23.9%, widening by 87.37 billion dirhams compared to 70.54 billion dirhams in the first three months of the previous year. This worsening reflects a differentiated development of imports and exports. Morocco’s purchases recovered by 11.1% at the end of March, increasing by 20.7 billion dirhams year-on-year. They reached a value of 208.11 billion dirhams. Year-on-year, imports show an increase of 20.8%, or additional purchases of 13.93 billion dirhams compared to February 2026. Among the highlights noted by the Foreign Exchange Office, we cite an increase of 10.2 billion dirhams in imports of capital goods, an increase of 24.7%. As for exports, they achieved a figure of 120.74 billion dirhams for the first three months of the year, an additional 3.88 billion dirhams (3.3%). Month-on-month, the Foreign Exchange Office noted an increase of 15.7%, representing additional shipments of 6.26 billion dirhams.
Sectoral analysis reveals an increase of 12.1% in automobile exports and 12.6% in aeronautics exports. On the other hand, shipments in the electronics and electricity sector fell by 4.7%. The same is true for the agriculture and agri-food sector and phosphates and derivatives, whose export sales fell by 2.3% and 7.4% respectively. Textile and leather shipments, for their part, fell by 14.1% compared to the end of March 2025. On another note, fund transfers made by Moroccans living abroad increased by 11.7% to reach 29.74 billion dirhams at the end of March, an increase of 3.12 billion dirhams. On the investment side, net flows of foreign direct investments fell by 8.3% to 8.45 billion dirhams compared to 9.22 billion dirhams a year earlier. As for Moroccan direct investments abroad, the net flow showed a peak of 57.3%, standing at around 2.81 billion dirhams compared to 1.79 billion dirhams at the end of March 2025.
