Morocco Savvy

Hoping to up its share of foreign tourists, one of Morocco’s oldest spas gets a new marketing strategy. 

Health and wellness is the latest trend in tourism. Visitors no longer just fly to a country to see its natural and cultural highlights, they now often include therapies and treatments into their holidays.

In Morocco, that doesn’t just mean a well-deserved treat in a luxurious hammam. For years, visitors from France have been loyal patients of Moroccan dentists. 

Getting dental surgery in Morocco is much cheaper than in France. Plus, a lot of dentists in the country were trained in France, which reassures most foreign patients about the standard of the treatments.

Sadly, a plastic surgeon from Rabat tells Al Bayane newspaper, medical tourism is still “in its infancy” in Morocco. While other countries like Tunisia and Egypt are experiencing a boom, he says, Morocco still needs to get into the face-lift frenzy.

A message that hasn’t been wasted on the wellness industry in Morocco. Not a single hotel is being built or renovated without some form of spa, hammam or thalassatherapy center included in the project.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s original wellness destinations, hot springs like Oulmès, Sidi Harazem and Moulay Yacoub, fail to attract foreign tourists.

Less than 10 percent of Moulay Yacoub’s visitors are foreigners, L’Economiste writes. Reason for the resort’s owners, Groupe CDG, to come up with a new marketing strategy for the thermal bath near Fes.

Tour operators will be enticed to include a day of beauty, wellness or health at Moulay Yacoub in their holiday packages. The resort will be rebranded as a wellness center around its natural hot springs that are said to have beneficial effects for a variety of conditions, from rhumatoid to skin problems.

Groupe CDG is also studying the feasibility of shuttle buses between the spa resort and hotels in Fes to make it easier for visitors to reach the place.

The entrance fee for Moulay Yacoub’s baths has recently been increased from 90 dirham to 100 dirham (US$ 12).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Destinations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.