Sunil Sethi: How tourism transformed Morocco

AL FRESCO

Marrakesh (Morocco): Nearly 30 years ago, as an impecunious backpacking student, I travelled through the main cities of Morocco, working my way on second-class trains and buses from Casablanca on the Atlantic coast, along the spine of the Atlas mountains, to the old imperial capitals of Marrakesh and Fes. It was an achievement even then to last out the week on $50.

This week, in somewhat improved style, I have been visiting friends old and new in the same places and am astonished at the changes that have swept through this westernmost corner of the Islamic world, especially in tourism""as both a source of foreign investment and driving force of the national economy. (Tourism is now Morocco's second-largest foreign exchange earner with revenues of over $3 billion this year.)

Although one of the great medieval cities of the Maghreb, Marrakesh in the late 1970s was part of the down-at-heel hippie trail on a par with Istanbul and Kathmandu. It is now the playground of the well-to-do, many of them very rich Europeans. Gianni Agnelli's widow Marella owns a beautiful holiday home here and so do much of the French smart set, from fashion designers Yves St Laurent and Jean Louis Scherrer to intellectuals such as Bernard-Henri Levy.

They have taken the lead in restoring some of the city's crumbling old riads, the Moroccan equivalent of Indian havelis in the crowded lanes of the medina or inner city.

Saving old riads has become such a fashion that between 400 and 600 have been superbly restored in recent years and there is hardly another to be found. The going price for an authentically restored riad, with its complex of hidden courtyard gardens and sunset views over the walled Kasbah, is now in the region of about $1 million.

While India grudgingly crawls towards a figure of three million tourists a year, about the same number visited Marrakesh last year and the figure is expected to rise by about 35 per cent in 2005.

According to the "Plan Azur", which Morocco's young king (Mohammad VI, not yet 40, and in many ways a study in contrast to the authoritarian larger-than-life figure of his late father King Hassan II) has put into force, Morocco hopes to attract 10 million tourists by 2010. This includes partial privatisation of the national airline.

Indian politicians and tourism officials have been making similar promises for years but with pathetic results. Let me explain, after a week of observing and travelling, how it works in Morocco. The first biggest surprise for the Indian visitor is the cleanliness of the cities, in particular the high standard of basic civic services of the historic quarters.

With its labyrinth of 9,400 twisting alleys and more than 300 mosques, the ancient medina of Fes is the heart of the city, its main tourist attraction, but is more densely populated than, say, the Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk areas of old Delhi. Yet the thousands of inhabitants and artisans who live and work here have proper sewage, garbage disposal, paved lanes, potable water and running electricity.

If Indian politicians like Renuka Chowdhury and Kapil Sibal (the last is MP for Chandni Chowk) seem to think that stinking drains, festering garbage and beggars shoving mutilated limbs into visitors' faces will attract millions to Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid they are mistaken. When fake tourist guides became a plague in Marrakesh and Fes, local authorities established a force of plainclothes police to weed them out.

Apart from working at the municipal level, city and provincial governments have the authority to take decisions that will enhance their image. In Marrakesh it is a rule that all building facades are painted in traditional shades of red ochre and terracotta. This gives the place a unique identity and instills a sense of pride among its residents. The results of Jaipur's similar but half-hearted and badly-executed idea are there for all to see.

At the national level slow and muddled policies also hit tourism. Despite its eagerness to lure foreign investment, and riding an unprecedented boom in the property market, India is afraid to allow foreigners to buy a home.

If, like Morocco, India had the confidence to set the agenda and abide by rules, hundreds of historic old Indian buildings might be saved. That would be a step forward in promoting heritage tourism in the real sense of the word.