Perusing a popular travel board, I came across this posting by Mary King about the cost of traveling in Morocco. She kindly granted me permission to repost it here.
I don’t want to offend anyone and I am not getting at anyone in particular. But I just wanted to point a few things out, about the costs involved in taking a 4×4 tour or hiring a car with guide/driver.
I am getting just a little tired of reading posts with statements such as : “Oooh, it was sooo expensive, the driver wanted 100 euros a day!!!” etc, as if all this money went straight into the driver’s pocket!
I know Morocco is perceived as a budget destination: after all, it’s Africa, right? But, before making judgements such as these, please just think a little.
Take for example a trip from Marrakech to the desert.
With the distances involved - many tourists want to go via the piste or make detours from the route, (and why not…) the fuel can easily add up to 60 euros a day.
Then there are hotel and food expenses for your driver. OK, so sometimes he gets lucky and gets to sleep on the floor (or even in a bed) for nothing. But sometimes he doesn’t. And he has to eat. Often he has to eat where you do, which might be quite expensive for him.
Then there are the nights before and after your trip, if he is not based in Marrakech. He has to get there the day before, pay the fuel, stay overnight, eat…to meet you at your mid range or exclusive riad bright and early the next morning.
There is the wear and tear on the car: New tyres. Stones scratching the paintwork, the windscreen, breaking the headlights. Shock absorbers. And insurance. Some of the roads are very rough and they take their toll on cars, even 4×4s, and parts are expensive! Even in Morocco.
The driving is tiring too. Sometimes your driver will be working 12 hour days.
And that is for drivers who are lucky and own their own cars.
Many of the drivers you encounter will work for an agency. If they are good, and the agency is doing well, they might earn 150 euros a month. That is, a MONTH. The average family’s expenses will be around 200euros a month.
So how do they manage it? Well they will be sharing their small apartment with another family, maybe a brother. And if he is lucky, and has work, he can expect to earn 5 euros a day for a 6 day week.
These people are struggling to feed their families while you are on your holiday.
So you can’t afford it? That’s fair enough. I wouldn’t be able to afford it either, I always go by bus when I travel. But don’t think you are in some way being ripped off.
Even those who are doing well can only dream about holidays like the one you are having. Most will never get the opportunity to travel outside their country.
Many people in Morocco are highly intelligent, adaptable, ambitious, motivated, inventive. The need just a little chance to drag their lives out of the gutter. For increasing numbers of them, tourism has offered them that chance.
This is the positive side of tourism! So please don’t knock it!