Morocco Savvy

The owners of a Casablanca hotel get two years for “aiding and abetting” prostitution - but the hotel could be allowed to re-open.

Last November, police raided the Byblos Suites Hotel on Boulevard Mohamed Zerktouni in Casablanca. After searching the hotel’s 38 rooms, bar, nightclub, and restaurant, they arrested 45 prostitutes and 27 men who were making use of the women’s services that night. 

All were convicted of prostitution, but got away with a fine.

The owner of the hotel, Ahmed Fayad, and his son Saad, however, were prosecuted for “aiding and abetting” prostitution. A Casablanca court has now sentenced the couple to two years in prison and a 2,000 dollar fine, L’Économiste reports.

The police shut down the hotel (”The most favoured place for businessmen and those seeking discoveries“) after the raid, but the court did not uphold that decision. Once the case has gone through appeal, the hotel could re-open. 

The owners’ lawyer accused the police of a deliberate campaign to single out and “destroy” the hotel’s owners, saying that plenty of other hotels in the city allow “the sexes to mingle”.

“Why choose this particular hotel?”, he asked the court.

The prosecution denied the allegations and invited the lawyer to name the officers who he believes were involved in the frame-up.

Moroccan authorities have pursued an active campaign against sex tourism in the last years. Around half of the arrested clients in the Byblos case were foreigners, mostly from the Gulf states.

• Find out all you need to know (well, obviously not all) about Moroccan nightlife over at the Morocco FAQ

As more no-frills airlines open routes to Morocco, tour operators are discovering the country’s budget market potential, too.

French giant Nouvelles Frontières is launching a new “economy” class of tourist resorts in its winter 2007/2008 program. Aimed, the company’s President said, at an “opportunistic clientèle” who want low prices and typically settle for three-star accommodation.

Around 15 bottom-end hotels will become available in Morocco, Tunisia, Greece, and the Balearic islands in Spain between now and 2009.

Nouvelles Frontières’ program neatly falls into place with the Moroccan government’s ambition to attract 10 million tourists to the country in 2010. Dubbed the “Plan Azur”, the strategy provides for a gradual shift in focus from “explorer”-type independent visitors to the more family-oriented mass market.

Last year, Morocco welcomed 6.4 million visitors, up 45 percent from 2002.

• Looking for an opportunistic place to stay in Morocco? Try our hotel search with 1,900 hotels and riads listed