The Jewish religious tourism market is a strong potential for the Agadir region. For the second year in a row, the Taghazout Bay destination was full during the Passover period, Pesach. For ten days, during the first two weeks of April, the seaside resort lived to the rhythm of these commemorations.
Three hotels were privatized, welcoming hundreds of guests accompanied by their caterers and their teams to serve kosher food to the participants in these celebrations during which rites must be performed. Also, many Jews stop working to devote themselves to these festivities. And it is an opportunity to travel.
For Taghazout Bay, this market is rather new. It was previously reserved for Marrakech and Essaouira. But today, it is well gone for Taghazout. The rate of return of the Jewish clientele is important in any period. The seaside resort of Taghazout Bay has also become for the Jewish clientele the fashionable destination to celebrate weddings and barmitsvas. Since the resumption of tourist activity, the locality has hosted several such ceremonies.
The strong ties between this community and Morocco, which remains very attached to the Kingdom, the attractiveness of Taghazout Bay with its magnificent resorts and the commercial strategy of the brands established in the new resort are the factors behind the development of this clientele. The global Jewish market is expected to generate one million Israeli visitors by 2028. And Taghazout Bay has every chance of attracting some of this clientele throughout the year thanks to its good weather conditions in all seasons, not to mention the resort’s beautiful beaches. But that’s not all.
The Souss-Massa region is a pilgrimage destination for Judaism and is home to a historical heritage for Jews. Many Jewish saints are buried in the Taroudant area, where members of the Jewish community flock in large numbers each year to celebrate the annual moussem of Rabbi David Ben Baroukh.
The Jewish religious tourism market is thus a niche to be developed in the region. The MICE market is also doing well in Taghazout Bay. For over a year, conferences and several events have been held in the destination where others are already scheduled for the coming weeks. There is also the animation component that is developing.
The seaside resort should host a festival of electro music. Meanwhile, for this period of Eid El-Fitr, it is rather the national clientele that will boost the activity of Agadir and Taghazout. Some establishments are already fully booked for this period. For the region of Agadir, the national market is still the first transmitter. During the first quarter of 2023, with more than 82,000 arrivals and nearly 193,000 overnight stays, this market has exceeded the performance recorded in 2019 and well beyond those of 2022 during which the region of Agadir had accumulated respectively more than 74,200 and 71,500 arrivals.
The overnight stays for their part had reached respectively in 2019 figures of nearly 155,700 and over 156,500 in 2022. The novelty effect of Taghazout Bay and its extraordinary potential continue to attract the outbound markets. The city of Agadir, which continues to make new skin should drain even more foreign customers in the short term. It remains to accompany this revival by more promotion, air, beds, but also more attractiveness in terms of animation.
