From our special envoy to Morocco,
After spending three days in isolated villages in the mountains, ravaged by the earthquake, in the north of the Taroudant region, the difference is striking when we arrive in Agadir. Here, life goes on. The earthquake left no trace, at least no material trace. “We felt the tremor that evening. The staff evacuated guests from the hotels for a few hours, everyone still has the earthquake in mind,” explains Rachid, a street vendor who tirelessly walks the seafront promenade in search of customers. The earthquake he talks about is the one that killed more than 12,000 people in Agadir in the 1960s. So far but so close.
On this same seafront, it must be recognized that it is not the crowds of the big days on this Sunday in September. A few couples, often elderly, leisurely stroll along the asphalt. On the sand, the private beaches of the large tourist complexes are sparse despite the big blue sky and a relatively mild temperature of 28 degrees. “Usually at this time, between September and October, all the hotels are full. There is no one there,” laments Ismaël, another street vendor who is struggling to sell his geodes. So, as soon as a tourist shows up in their area, the promenade surveyors come upon them.
So, when we ask these sellers if they find the presence of tourists only a few dozen kilometers from a humanitarian tragedy indecent, they lose their temper. “Of course we need tourism, on the contrary, we have to tell them to come. It’s not with the minimum wage here that we’re going to get by,” continues Ismaël before heading off to chase down a couple of young French people. Obviously, he admits to making around fifteen euros a day by selling his shiny stones while the Moroccan minimum wage does not exceed 300 euros per month.
At the counter of a large hotel in Agadir, a receptionist confided to us his concerns on condition of anonymity: “We’ve had quite a few cancellations, so there are plenty of free rooms. Today, you can have a night for 200 dirhams,” he slips. That’s the equivalent of 20 euros, unbeatable. However, many tourists decided to come anyway. This is the case of Alain and Marie, originally from Alsace. “The trip had been planned for a month, and originally we were going to Marrakech,” explains Marie. The day after the earthquake, both were a little upset. “We followed the news to see what was happening, and since the travel agency didn’t warn us, we decided to leave anyway,” continues her husband.
Another French couple, in their seventies, barely leaves the meeting for new arrivals at their hotel. They are a little disappointed: “There are a lot of excursions that are no longer offered, like Marrakech or the High Atlas, it’s a shame,” laments the husband, accompanied by nods from his wife. They half-heartedly regret not having postponed their vacation. “I understand people who cancel. If I am told to go on vacation in a country but it is dangerous, maybe I will go somewhere else,” assures us a fresh fruit seller, whose crate is full of grapes, figs and dates, remains desperately full. As a result, for him, business is “like this, like that”, but he does not despair that things will resume quickly, “inchallah”.