“In two years we will have 50 golf courses in Morocco.”
Morocco is becoming a golf destination to be taken into account. The variety and quality of its courses, the attractive complementary offer, where the luxury of its hotels is mixed with cultural exoticism, are turning this country into an object of desire for European fans.
Moulay Rachid Alaoui, Advisor to the President of the Royal Golf Federation of Morocco, assures that in just two years his country will have more than fifty golf courses, a figure that is beginning to be important and to be considered.
“Now,” he says, “there are about thirty camps located mainly in the Marrakech area, where there are eleven, Agadir, Casablanca, Rabat, and the north of the country. We currently have about 10,000 members.
-The number is growing, isn’t it?
-Yes, growing and growing a lot. Golf officially began in Morocco exactly one hundred years ago, in 1914, with the construction of the first golf course in Tangier, although it is known that golf was already being played in 1897 in this city, which was the diplomatic capital of the kingdom. As it could not be otherwise, it was the English who introduced this sport.
-I imagine that in Morocco, too, golf is conceived as a tourist attraction?
Of course. Although in the Rabat, Casablanca and Tangier courses there are many local partners, golf is an important asset for our tourist development. And here we want to follow the example of Spain, which has succeeded in this area and is a mirror in which we can look at ourselves. Our visitors now are mainly French; the English and Scandinavian markets are still not very present, but we are trying to position ourselves in those countries as well, and in Spain, of course.
-The new fields under project and construction, twenty in total, in which areas are they being built?
-All over Morocco, but especially in Marrakech and the north. In Tangier, for example, another course designed by Vijay Singh is under construction.
“We have the advantage,” adds Moulay Rachid, “of having very good courses built before the real estate boom and, after it, we are very careful not to build courses just to sell houses. In this we also have to learn from Spain, learn from the good things that have been done, which is a lot, and avoid mistakes”.
-Are the designers of the new fields under design or construction prestigious architects?
-Jack Nicklaus, for example, who already has a course in Marrakech and is going to do two or three more; Cabell B. Robinson, Kyle Phillips, Colin Montgomerie, etc…. These are very interesting people.
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