Morocco expects up to 80,000 Indian tourists in 2026 as it tries to join the world’s top ten travel destinations.
Jamal Younes Kelito, head of the Moroccan National Tourist Office in India, said the country hopes to welcome between 75,000 and 80,000 visitors from India next year.
“The goal is to reach 100,000 visitors from India as soon as possible, as the Kingdom is putting in place strategic plans to strengthen its position as a main destination for Indian travellers by expanding partnerships with travel agencies and tour operators in India,” he said.
Morocco welcomed 20 million international visitors in 2025, including 54,000 from India. That was more than 31 percent higher than in 2024, when 41,000 Indian tourists visited. In 2024, total foreign arrivals reached 17.4 million.
Kelito said the rise in Indian visitors followed marketing campaigns launched in 2023 and the start of an online visa system.
“We opened a tourism office in India in 2023 and launched promotional campaigns. We also signed several partnerships with Indian tour operators, which resulted in 123 percent growth in the number of visitors from India in 2024 compared with the previous year,” he said.
He added that the online visa, which takes from a few hours to four working days to get, made travel easier.
This year, Morocco is targeting group trips, business events, reward travel, destination weddings, young couples, solo travellers and people aged over 50.
India is now among Morocco’s top 20 source markets and ranks second in Asia after China. France is still the biggest source of visitors, followed by Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Officials expect India to enter the top ten in the next few years.
There are no direct flights between Morocco and India. Travellers must fly through Gulf countries or some European cities.
Tourism expert Zoubir Bouhoute said Morocco’s tourism sector has grown steadily in recent years, reaching about 20 million visitors in 2025. He said this makes Morocco the top destination in Africa, with average growth of about 14 percent.
He said the online visa for Indian citizens, introduced in January 2023, played a key role by making the process simpler. Opening a tourism office in New Delhi also helped build closer cultural and business ties.
India’s overseas travel market is one of the fastest-growing in the world, with spending expected to pass $42bn. Bouhoute said India’s population of about 1.46 billion, rising incomes and more international flights are driving this growth.
India’s economy grew from $3.346tn in 2022 to $3.638tn in 2023, up 9.2 percent, then to $3.909tn in 2024, up 6.5 percent, and to $4.125tn in 2025, up 6.6 percent. Rising incomes and a growing middle class are expected to support more overseas travel.
Bouhoute said stronger business links, including work in areas such as phosphates and fertilisers, could also increase business travel to Morocco, which markets itself as a gateway to Europe.
He added that the lack of a direct flight between Morocco and India remains a key challenge.
