Visa-Free and Growing: What Chinese Tourism Means for Service Businesses in Morocco

At a glance

Morocco has let Chinese citizens enter without a visa since June 2016. Arrivals rose from roughly 10,000 a year before the waiver to about 200,000 in 2025, nearly double the 106,000 recorded in 2024.
Royal Air Maroc's direct Beijing–Casablanca route goes to four weekly flights from 29 October 2026; Shanghai Airlines' Shanghai–Casablanca service, which stops in Marseille, also reached four a week from 17 June 2026.
Fliggy reported that Chinese flight bookings to Morocco rose more than 270% in early 2025, with chauffeur-driven tour sales up 200%.
Morocco's national tourist office targets 500,000 Chinese visitors in 2026 and one million by 2030.
Morocco welcomed 19.8 million tourists in 2025 (up 14%); Marrakech alone accounts for about a third of nights in classified hotels.

A decade ago, Chinese travellers were a rare sight in Marrakech. Before the visa waiver, tourism professionals put annual Chinese arrivals at around 10,000, according to Hespress. Morocco dropped the visa requirement in June 2016 (China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and arrivals passed 42,000 that same year.

The pandemic broke the curve, but direct flights have put it back on track. Morocco's ambassador to China said Chinese arrivals reached a record of about 200,000 in 2025.

For service businesses, this is a customer base still taking shape: travellers who speak Chinese, pay by phone and book through Trip.com or Fliggy, arriving in a market where few local providers are set up to serve them.

Arrivals: from 10,000 to 200,000

Year	Chinese arrivals	Note
Before 2016	~10,000 a year	Industry estimate
2016	42,000+	Visa waiver from June
2019	~141,000	Pre-pandemic peak
2023	~60,000	No direct flights yet
2024	~106,000	Up almost 80%
2025	~200,000	Record year, direct flights resumed

Sources: Hespress, Morocco World News. Figures are approximate as reported in the media; different bodies count slightly differently.

The official ambition is larger still. The Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) is aiming for 500,000 Chinese visitors in 2026 and one million by 2030, Morocco World News reports. From the 2025 base, that means more than doubling again within two years, which will depend largely on seat capacity.

The distribution deals are already in place. In May 2025, ONMT signed a three-year memorandum with Trip.com in Shanghai, targeting 1.15 million Chinese hotel nights by 2028 (FNH), and a three-year strategic agreement with Fliggy (Bladi). At the end of June 2025, it signed a joint marketing agreement with China Eastern Airlines in Rabat (Morocco World News).

ONMT also started the "China Ready" certification process in 2025, which covers Chinese mobile payments and Mandarin-speaking staff at key touchpoints (7news). In CBISN's 2026 China Ready Index, Morocco ranked second among African destinations, behind Egypt.

Who is coming, and how they travel

Platform data suggest the change is not only in volume but in the way Chinese visitors travel.

Independent trips with a driver. Fliggy reported that Chinese bookings of flights to Morocco rose more than 270% year on year in early 2025, while sales of chauffeur-driven tours rose 200% (Bladi). Every one of those trips needs a vehicle, a driver and an itinerary that works in Chinese.
Long tours and older travellers. During China's National Day holiday in October 2026, Tuniu said bookings for Morocco were up more than 50% on the previous year. Travellers aged 50 and over make up nearly 40% of its long-haul customers, and group tours of more than ten days are especially popular with them (Bladi).
Multi-country itineraries. ONMT is positioning Morocco as a stop on routes that also cover Europe and the Middle East. In July 2026 it hosted around 30 Hong Kong tour operators and agencies, with a wider roadshow planned for Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou (Morocco World News).
Culture and shopping. Visitors interviewed by Africanews were following a Marrakech, Fez, Sahara and Aït Ben Haddou circuit, and were keen buyers of carpets, leather and copperware.

These are two different customers. Older group travellers want comfort and Chinese-speaking service; younger independent travellers want flexibility and online booking. A business should decide early which one it is built for.

Flights: Beijing direct, Shanghai via Marseille

In January 2025, Royal Air Maroc resumed its Casablanca–Beijing service and Shanghai Airlines, part of China Eastern, opened a Shanghai–Casablanca route with a stop in Marseille (China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Route	Airline	Weekly flights	Notes
Beijing–Casablanca	Royal Air Maroc	3 at launch; 4 from 29 Oct 2026	Direct, Boeing 787-9
Shanghai–Casablanca	Shanghai Airlines	3 at launch; 4 from 17 Jun 2026	Via Marseille, Boeing 787-9

Sources: Morocco World News, Aeroroutes (Beijing), North Africa Post, Aeroroutes (Shanghai)

Between 25 September and 23 October 2025, Shanghai Airlines also ran a seasonal weekly nonstop from Shanghai (Aeroroutes). In October 2025, Royal Air Maroc and China Eastern signed a memorandum in Shanghai that includes plans for a codeshare (Hespress). Even so, the two routes together offer eight flights a week. Capacity remains the main constraint on growth.

The bigger picture: Moroccan tourism keeps expanding

According to the Ministry of Tourism, Morocco received 19.8 million visitors in 2025, up 14%, and earned MAD 124 billion in tourism receipts in the first eleven months (Hespress). Arrivals reached 15.7 million in the first nine months of 2026, up 5% year on year (Morocco World News).

Morocco co-hosts the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal. In July 2026, Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor said the country has just over 300,000 hotel beds and plans to add about 60,000 more (Le360).

Choosing a city

The table shows nights spent in classified hotels from January to November 2025, for all visitors, not only Chinese ones. It gives a sense of each city's scale (Hespress, citing the Finance Ministry's DEPF). The last column is our own reading.

City	Hotel nights	Change	Relevance for Chinese visitors
Marrakech	12.4 million	+3%	On almost every itinerary; large but crowded market
Agadir	7.5 million	+11%	Mainly European beach holidays; few Chinese visitors so far
Casablanca	2.9 million	+15%	Arrival city for both routes; business and transit guests
Tangier	2.1 million	+14%	Northern gateway towards Chefchaouen and Spain
Fez	1.5 million	+12%	Core of the heritage circuit; strong need for Chinese-language guiding
Ouarzazate	not published	+27%	Base for desert and kasbah routes; fast growth

National nights over the same period totalled 39.8 million, so Marrakech accounts for roughly a third. For a small business, Marrakech offers steady footfall but high rents and heavy competition. Casablanca suits first-night stays and business travellers. Fez and the Ouarzazate corridor have fewer specialist providers and are worth a visit before deciding.

Case study: a Chinese restaurant in Fez

Soon after the visa waiver, a businessman from Zhejiang, Wang Luping, opened the Great Wall restaurant in Fez in January 2017. Morocco World News, citing China Daily, reported monthly revenue of about MAD 144,000 at the time, from a mix of Chinese tourists, Moroccans and other foreign visitors. His reasoning was simple: many Chinese visitors struggle with local food, and there were few Chinese restaurants in Morocco.

The figures are almost ten years old and should not be used as a forecast. The logic still holds: pick a heritage city every tour passes through, meet a basic need with familiar food, and do not rely on Chinese tourists alone.

Payments and guides: two visible gaps

Morocco's interbank payment centre CMI has accepted UnionPay cards since at least 2017. That year, Chinese card spending rose about 900% in the first half, with an average transaction of around MAD 2,100, against about MAD 1,500 for Visa and Mastercard holders (FNH). In 2019, CMI and AfricaPass announced the arrival of Alipay (Bladi). In April 2026, UnionPay International opened its hub for African operations in Casablanca Finance City (7news). How many merchants actually accept Chinese payment methods today is unclear and worth checking on the ground.

Chinese-speaking guides are scarce. In 2020, a guide quoted by Bladi estimated that barely forty guides in the whole country spoke Chinese. In 2023, Mohammed V University in Rabat and Peking University agreed to develop Chinese training for Moroccan guides (Le360). With arrivals doubling, supply has some catching up to do.

The challenges

Tourism is a regulated sector in Morocco, and the rules should be clear before any money is committed.

Agencies and guides. Travel agencies need an operating authorisation under Law 11.16 (Le360), and tourist guides need accreditation under Law 05.12 (Hespress). In 2020, the ministry told agencies serving Chinese groups to use a Moroccan guide at historical sites, or be removed from the list of approved agencies for the Chinese market. A Chinese tour leader guiding groups around monuments alone is therefore not compliant.
Accommodation. Under Law 80.14, tourist accommodation needs an operating licence before it opens to the public (Le360). Rules published in June 2025 bring guesthouses and riads into a single star-rating system, add mystery-guest audits, make ratings time-limited, and give operators a 24-month transition period (Maroc.ma). Anyone buying an existing riad should check its licence and rating status.
Market risk. Chinese visitor numbers are still small in absolute terms, demand is seasonal, Marrakech and Fez are competitive, and with only a few flights a week, volumes depend heavily on airline schedules.

The practical answer is to partner with licensed agencies and local guides, plan for low-season cash flow, and confirm the licences your activity requires before signing a lease.

How a Chinese SME can enter

Visit first. Pick one or two cities and follow a Chinese group or a driver-led itinerary. Watch where visitors eat, sleep and shop.
Define the activity. Separate what needs a tourism licence (travel agency, accommodation) from ordinary commercial activity (restaurant, retail, translation services).
Register a local company. Decide the shareholding, the wording of the business activity and how the capital will be transferred, then open a company bank account.
Secure licences and premises. For accommodation or tour activities, confirm the licence route before signing a lease or buying a property.
Test with a light model. Partner with an existing riad, licensed agency or restaurant to check demand and average spend.
Connect to distribution. List on Trip.com or Fliggy, or work with tour operators in China, before investing further.

Five questions to ask before you invest

What share of my customers will be Chinese tourists, and who keeps the business going in the low season?
Which licence does this activity need, who applies for it, and how long will it take?
Do footfall and rent in my chosen city match?
Can I take UnionPay, Alipay and local bank cards?
Where will Chinese-speaking staff come from, and can they work alongside accredited local guides?

What it means for Chinese businesses

Chinese restaurants and tea houses in Marrakech, Casablanca or Fez, serving tourists, the local Chinese community and business visitors.
Guesthouses and riads with Chinese-speaking reception, Chinese breakfast and mobile payments, built to the new star-rating standards.
Inbound tours and DMC services, in partnership with a licensed agency, for custom groups, family trips and business delegations booked through Trip.com and Fliggy.
Chauffeur-driven tours, with Chinese-language itinerary planning, to meet the demand Fliggy is reporting.
Chinese-language services: tour leaders, interpreters and trip assistants working alongside accredited local guides.
Travel retail: carpets, leather goods and argan oil, with Chinese product information and international shipping.
Payments and connectivity: helping merchants accept Alipay and WeChat Pay, and selling SIM cards and data plans to visitors.
Photography and wedding travel in settings such as the Sahara and Chefchaouen.

A sensible approach is to register a local company, map the licences first, and start light, then scale once demand is proven.

Sources

Information as of November 2026, for general reference only; not investment advice.

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