Middle East war clouds global tourism outlook as Morocco assesses impact

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East involving the United States and Israel against Iran is expected to weigh on global tourism and travel, as rising fuel costs and geopolitical uncertainty begin to affect the sector.

Tourism operators are monitoring potential impacts closely, particularly as higher fuel prices feed into broader increases in transport and service costs.

A senior industry source told Hespress that it was too early to assess the full impact on Morocco’s tourism sector due to a lack of consolidated data for the current period. The source added that the effects of the conflict were likely to be mixed.

“The repercussions will inevitably reach Morocco’s tourism sector, but the impact could be both negative and positive,” the source said, noting that prolonged conflict could deter travel to destinations closer to the war zone while potentially redirecting demand from European and U.S. markets toward Morocco.

The source said some operators may already be experiencing disruptions, but these could not yet be taken as representative of the sector as a whole. Morocco’s tourism industry recorded strong performance in 2025.

The source also said the tourism ministry was likely gathering data and assessing scenarios, including risks and potential opportunities to strengthen Morocco’s positioning as a destination.

Tourism expert Zoubir Bouhoute said geopolitical tensions in the Middle East directly affect air transport, noting that around 14 percent of global air traffic passes through major regional hubs such as Dubai and Doha.

He said any rise in oil prices increases jet fuel costs, which in turn drives up ticket prices and affects the broader tourism value chain, including domestic transport and service costs.

Higher travel costs and inflationary pressures reduce consumers’ purchasing power, making tourism one of the first areas where spending is cut, leading to weaker international demand, Bouhoute said.

He added that conflicts tend to weigh on tourism overall and warned that the Middle East and North Africa region remains vulnerable to perceptions of instability, which could affect even relatively stable destinations such as Morocco.