Mohammedia – Morocco is seeing a major jump in visitors from China, and the reason is simple: new direct flights and big promotion campaigns are paying off. In the first eight months of 2025, the number of Chinese tourists doubled compared to the same period in 2024.
This sharp increase is pushing Morocco closer to its new goals of attracting 300,000 Chinese visitors by the end of 2025, half a million by 2026, and one million by 2030.
The rise is impressive when looking at the numbers. In 2019, before the pandemic, about 141,000 Chinese tourists came to Morocco. In 2023, that number had dropped to around 60,000, but in 2024 it climbed back to more than 106,000, an increase of almost 80%.
The early results from 2025 show the strongest recovery yet, with arrivals already twice as high as last year’s levels, nearly 200,000 Chinese tourists.
The main driver of this growth is air travel. The main driver of this growth is air travel. In January 2025, Royal Air Maroc relaunched its Casablanca to Beijing route, and China Eastern Airlines opened a direct connection between Shanghai and Casablanca.
These new links cut travel time and made Morocco far more accessible to travelers from two of China’s biggest cities. Both airlines have also announced plans to increase the number of flights by the end of the year.
Promotion is the second factor. Morocco’s tourism board has invested heavily in marketing in China, attending big trade fairs such as ITB China and signing agreements with online platforms like “Trip” and “Fliggy.”
Since most Chinese tourists book through these apps, the partnerships give Morocco a better chance of reaching potential travelers. Officials are also trying to position Morocco as a destination not only for culture and desert tours but also for luxury, golf, and business trips, all categories with growing demand among Chinese visitors.
China is considered the largest outbound tourism market in the world, with hundreds of millions of travelers going abroad every year.
Morocco welcomed 17.4 million tourists overall in 2024, which was 20% more than in 2023. Tourism generated around MAD 104 billion ($11 billion) , during that year.
Read also: Morocco Aims to Attract More Chinese Tourists with New ‘China Ready’ Label
