Travel Weekly Digital Edition

Royal Air Maroc is increasing its service out of New York.

Morocco beach resorts in the works

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approximately 6. 5 hours.

Royal Air Maroc is increasing it service out of Kennedy to nine flights weekly. There is also a plethora of airline connections via major European air hubs such as London, Madrid and Paris, thanks to the open-skies treaty Morocco concluded with the European Union in 2005.

“In the past two years, we’ve had 25 new airlines, including low-cost carriers such as EasyJet and Ryanair, coming to Morocco,” Maaninou said. “In 2005 there was one flight a day from London. Today, there are seven.”

Of the six beach resorts in development under the Azur Plan, five are upscale. The other, and furthest along in development, is the family-oriented Mediterrania Saidia, set to open in 2009 with nine hotels with 8,000 beds, a 12-mile boardwalk, a 700- berth marina and three golf courses. The developments include:

• Port Lixus: Twenty-five miles south of Tangier, Lixus will have 5,190 new hotel beds, a marina, two golf courses and a sports and leisure complex.

“This resort is dedicated to relaxation, spa and wellness,” said Maaninou. “The region is well known for hunting, so it’s a more sophisticated product than Saidia.”

• Mazagan: In El Jadida, 25 miles from Casablanca, Kerzner International — owner of Atlantis in the Bahamas — will spearhead a seaside resort dedicated to gambling and entertainment, according to Maaninou. The first hotel will open in 2009.

• Mogador Essaouira: Situated near Marrakech and the beach town of Essaouira, this upscale resort will be developed by three European developers, including Accor. “It will be dedicated to golf, spa and wellness,” said Maaninou. Mogador Essaouira will feature a spa, nautical center, two golf courses, 10 hotels with 4,270 beds and 150 guesthouses with 1,000 beds.

nation beach-desert destination.

“Within these six resorts, begun in 2003, we will have 130,000 new beds in resorts of the latest generation coming on line from

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Taghazout, a new Moroccan resort near Agadir, will feature horseback-riding trails.

Developers from Dubai are
investing $5 billion in Rabat
and $2 billion in a mountain
ski resort at Oukaimeden.

Perfectly redesigned courses. Perfectly happy clients.

• Taghazout: Los Angeles-based Colony Capital is heading development of this $2 billion complex near Agadir with a Canary Islands-based partner.

The first hotel will open in 2009 or 2010, said Maaninou. Incoming four- and five-star brands are said to include Four Seasons, Raffles and Fairmont. (Colony Capital owns the Fairmont and Raffles brands.) Taghazout, at the southern end of Morocco’s Atlantic coast, will have 20,000 beds, two golf courses, two spas and horseback-riding trails.

• Plage Blanche: Ground has not yet been broken at Plage Blanche, which lies between Agadir and Sidi Ifni. According to Maaninou, Spanish developer Fadesa has been awarded a contract to build a combi-

As part of our $100 million resort transformation, our championship golf courses have been completely redesigned by World Golf Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd. Now, we invite your clients to tee it up with our “Fore the Love of Golf” package.