Morocco

Think Britons in Morocco and the image that has traditionally come to mind is that of Sebastian Flyte, from Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisted, stumbling from one drinking den to another. Although it still retains many of the exotic charms that drew Flyte, Morocco has emerged in the last few years as a destination for a very different kind of visitor: the property investor. High profile figures such as Sir Richard Branson, the Rolling Stones and Malcolm Forbes have blazed the trail, while other enterprising buyers started several years acquiring riads (traditional houses with interior gardens) in Marrakech (also written Marrakesh). The focus is also turning to the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, with apartment and villa projects targeted at foreign buyers. Morocco is being billed as “the new Spain” – the climate is similar to the Costa del Sol, while price are only a third to a half those on the north side of the Straits of Gibraltar. Tourism, meanwhile, has been growing strongly: visitor numbers in the first seven months of 2005 were up 19% on the year before; the number of Britons rose 46%. Access is also getting easier and cheaper, with easyJet due to start flying from London Gatwick to Marrakech in July.

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