Travel agency and tour operator websites in Morocco: what to show to win direct enquiries

A tour company in Marrakech usually sells through three channels: activity booking platforms, the riads and hotels that send their guests, and word of mouth on WhatsApp. Each has a cost: a commission, a margin for the middleman, or a client who cannot find you on the day they look for you.

Your website is there for that last client. The traveller who saw your name on a platform, at the riad or in a friend’s message types it into Google, and what they find decides whether they message you directly. This guide covers what that site must show for a travel agency, a tour and excursion operator or a tourist transport company in Morocco: the legal requirements, tour pages, transfers, languages, quote requests, reviews and cost.

One thing upfront. Bzaf Studio is a web agency based in Marrakech, and the showcase website we build collects enquiries by form and WhatsApp. It does not take online payments and does not show real-time availability. We explain below when that is enough, and when you will need another tool.

Why a website, if the platforms already fill your departures?

Excursion platforms bring travellers who did not know you, and that has real value. The problem comes later: once a traveller knows you, every booking that goes back through the platform pays commission on a client you had already won. And the platform often keeps the relationship: sometimes all you get is a first name and a meeting point.

The real path of a traveller booking a tour in Morocco looks like this:

• They shortlist two or three offers on a platform, on Google Maps, on Instagram, or on their riad’s recommendation.
• They search the company’s name on Google to check it is real: address, reviews, photos, how long it has been around.
• They compare the direct price with the platform price, and check what is included: meals, the night in camp, the camel ride, hotel pick-up.
• They look for a quick way to ask a question, almost always WhatsApp.
• They book with whoever answered clearly first.

Your website comes in at steps 2, 3 and 4. If it does not exist, the traveller books on the platform. If it shows no prices, no licence and no reviews, it worries them. If it is clear, it turns part of those searches into direct enquiries.

The maths: what is a direct booking worth?

Take a Marrakech company selling a three-day shared tour to Merzouga. The figures below are assumptions for the calculation; replace them with your own prices and the commission rate in your contracts.

Item	Assumption	Result
Price of the 3-day tour, per person	1,900 DH
Platform commission	25%	475 DH per traveller
Travellers who message you directly instead of booking on the platform	5 a month	2,375 DH of commission kept each month
Over twelve months	60 travellers	28,500 DH kept
All-inclusive website plan	399 DH a month incl. VAT	4,788 DH a year incl. VAT

The break-even point is low: with these assumptions, a single direct booking a month pays for the plan, since 475 DH of avoided commission is more than the 399 DH monthly fee. Only count travellers who had already found you: those the platform introduced to you belong to the platform.

A second gain does not show in the table: the contact. A traveller who books directly gives you their WhatsApp number. You can offer the return transfer, the next day’s excursion, and write to them the following year.

What Law 11-16 requires your website to show

Law No. 11-16 regulating the travel agent profession, enacted by Dahir No. 1-18-107 of 9 January 2019 and published in the Official Bulletin, repealed the old Law 31-96 of 1997 (Article 35). Its implementing Decree No. 2.21.80, published in Official Bulletin No. 7122 of 1 September 2022, sets out how the licence is granted. The Ministry of Tourism lists both texts among its legal texts (in French). Several articles apply directly to your website.

Who counts as a “travel agent” under the law?

Article 1 is broad: organising or selling trips and stays, booking transport or rooms for clients, organising tours or visits of cities and sites, selling the services of tour guides. These operations can be carried out remotely or electronically.

So a company selling Atlas excursions or desert tours is doing travel agent business, even if it calls itself a “tour operator” or an “excursion company”. Article 3 states that nobody may do so without a licence, either an organiser-distributor licence or, for those reselling these services as a side activity, a distributor licence.

Two points matter if you are a foreign investor. The organiser-distributor licence goes to a commercial company governed by Moroccan law (Article 4), which must also hold a financial guarantee, civil liability insurance and premises checked by the authorities. And the person running the company must meet the conditions set by Article 6 and the decree, including qualifications or experience in tourism or business management.

A website does not make an unlicensed business legal; it only makes it more visible. Article 31 sets a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 DH for operating without a licence, and 50,000 to 100,000 DH plus two to six months’ imprisonment for repeat offences. Under Decree 2.21.80, the licence application is filed online on the tourism ministry’s platform, and the financial guarantee is set at 200,000 DH. Sort this out before you publish your tours.

The obligations that affect your website, article by article

What Law 11-16 says	Article	Where to show it on the site
The licence number must appear on the website, on online sales platforms, printed material, posters, contracts and correspondence	11	Footer of every page, “About us” page, legal notice, booking confirmation
For every tour or package on sale, publish all information on the trip, the services and the prices, electronically or in a brochure	17	One page per tour, with itinerary, inclusions, exclusions and price
Before a package contract: the services, prices, payment terms, cancellation terms and border-crossing conditions; this information binds the agent	18	A “Terms” block on each tour page, plus a written summary sent before confirmation
The contract names the organiser, the agent, the guarantor and the insurer, and details the services, price, schedule and cancellation	19	Written confirmation template and terms and conditions page
Only licensed tour guides may accompany and guide clients, except during transfers	21	Wording on tour pages: “licensed tour guide” wherever a guide is mentioned

Two practical notes. First, the law defines a tourist package (Article 2) as a service lasting more than twenty-four hours or including a night, sold at an all-in price and combining at least two elements: transport, accommodation or another tourist service. Your three-day tour with a night in a desert camp is one. A day trip to the Ourika Valley is not, but Article 17 still asks you to publish its details and price.

Second, your licence number is the first trust signal you can show, and on many sites it is missing or hidden. Put it clearly in the footer, next to your office address: it is what sets a licensed agency apart from an undeclared middleman.

Tourist transport: approval and vehicle permits

If your business is transport, the framework is different. The specifications for tourist road transport, published by the Ministry of Tourism together with the ministry in charge of transport, require a personal approval from the Transport Commission, valid for seven years, and an authorisation card for each vehicle. Chauffeur-driven luxury cars carry a yellow elliptical plate on the front; other vehicles display the words “Transport Touristique”.

The specifications do not mention websites, but two of their rules help you. First, show your actual vehicles with their official signage: travellers recognise it on arrival, and it signals a legitimate operator. Second, when a non-resident tourist books transport with you directly, the vehicle travels with a passenger manifest stating who ordered the trip, the number of passengers, the route, the type of service (tour or airport transfer) and the dates. Build your enquiry form to collect exactly that information.

One page per tour and excursion, priced in dirhams

On many agency sites, every excursion sits on a single “Our tours” page, three lines each and “price on request”. The traveller cannot find what they want, and neither can Google.

Each tour needs its own page, with its own URL and a title that matches what travellers search for: “3-day desert tour from Marrakech to Merzouga”, “Ourika Valley day trip from Marrakech”, “Marrakech airport transfer to the medina”. A precise page can rank for a precise search. A page listing twenty excursions ranks for none.

What a good tour page contains

• Title and summary: destination, duration, starting point, in one sentence.
• The price in dirhams, per person on a shared tour and per vehicle for a private one, plus a child rate if you have one. An approximate euro or pound figure, clearly marked as indicative, helps the visitor compare.
• The itinerary, hour by hour for a day trip, day by day for a tour: stops, driving time, meals, overnight.
• What is and is not included, as two lists: transport, guide, meals, the night in camp, camel ride, entrance fees, drinks, tips.
• Pick-up: from the hotel or riad, at what time, and the meeting point when cars cannot enter the medina.
• Terms: deposit, balance, cancellation, and what happens if it rains in the Atlas or a road is closed.
• Practical information: what to wear, night temperatures in the desert, walking level, minimum age.
• Real photos of your vehicles, your camp and your guides, not stock images.
• A WhatsApp button with a pre-filled message that includes the tour name.
• Your licence number in the footer, and “licensed tour guide” wherever a guide is included.

Example: a day-trip page

Here is the outline of a page, with prices made up for the example:

• Title: Ourika Valley day trip from Marrakech.
• Summary: pick-up from your hotel at 9 am, back around 5:30 pm, Setti Fatma waterfalls, lunch in the valley, visit to an argan oil cooperative.
• Price: 300 DH per person on the shared tour; 1,200 DH for a private vehicle for up to four people.
• Included: return transport, driver, escort for the walk to the waterfalls.
• Not included: lunch (around 80 to 120 DH locally), tips.
• Terms: free cancellation until 6 pm the day before; if there is a weather alert, the trip is moved or refunded.
• Button: “Hello, I’d like to book the Ourika trip for … people on … Hotel: …”

This page answers in advance the five questions every traveller asks by message: how much, what time, what is included, where do you pick me up, can I cancel. Each answer on the page is one less back-and-forth.

Show the price, even if you negotiate

Many agencies are reluctant to show prices: fear of being copied, a habit of negotiating, seasonal changes. But the traveller has the platform’s price in front of them; if they cannot find yours, they assume you are more expensive. Show a realistic “from” price for shared tours and a price for private ones; negotiation stays open for groups and tailor-made trips.

Desert, Atlas, transfers: a 30-page site for a Marrakech agency

From Marrakech, an agency sells the desert to the east, the Atlas to the south, the coast to the west, and airport transfers. Here is the site structure we would suggest for a Marrakech agency doing all three. It has 30 pages, the limit of our all-inclusive plan.

Section	Pages	Example titles
Home	1	Tours and excursions from Marrakech
Desert	6	Merzouga in 3 days; Zagora in 2 days; Agafay desert evening; desert camp night; private desert tour; “Desert” overview page
Atlas and valleys	6	Ourika Valley; Imlil and the High Atlas; Ouzoud waterfalls; Aït Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate; day hike; “Atlas” overview page
Coast and cities	3	Essaouira day trip; guided medina tour; imperial cities tour
Transfers	4	Marrakech airport to the medina; airport to the Palmeraie; train station; city-to-city transfers
Tailor-made and groups	2	Tailor-made tour; groups, corporate events and families
Trust	3	The agency and its licence; our vehicles and guides; traveller reviews
Information	2	FAQ; booking and cancellation terms
Contact and legal	3	Contact and quote; legal notice; privacy policy
Total	30	to be translated into the second language

The idea: one overview page per destination, linking to each tour. It answers broad searches (“desert tour Marrakech”); tour pages answer precise ones (“Merzouga 3 days from Marrakech”).

The same model works for other departure cities: Fez to the Middle Atlas and Merzouga, Agadir to Paradise Valley and Taroudant, Tangier to Chefchaouen. We have dedicated pages on website design in Marrakech, Agadir, Fez and Tangier.

Transfers: short pages, fixed prices

A transfer is often a traveller’s first purchase, made from home before departure. They want a simple answer: how much, and who will be waiting for me. It is also a way in: a client well met at the airport is more likely to book the desert with the same company.

A good transfer page includes:

• A price per vehicle, not per person, with the number of passengers and bags (made-up example: 250 DH for up to four passengers from Marrakech airport to the medina, 350 DH by minibus for up to seven).
• Any night surcharge, and the time it starts.
• The meeting point: in the arrivals hall, with a driver holding a sign with the traveller’s name.
• What happens if the flight is late: waiting time included, and how you track arrival times.
• The end of the ride in the medina: where the car stops, and who walks the guests to the riad with their luggage.
• The form: name, flight number, arrival date and time, number of passengers and bags, drop-off address, WhatsApp number.

That is the information you need to organise the ride and prepare the transport paperwork. Asking for it upfront saves the usual string of messages: “which flight?”, “how many bags?”, “which riad?”.

Three languages for three audiences: tourists, the diaspora and local clients

According to the Ministry of Tourism, Morocco welcomed 19.8 million tourists in 2025, up 14% on the previous year, and 4.3 million in the first quarter of 2026. The main source markets it cites for 2025 include France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Italy. An agency targeting these travellers needs English and French at the very least.

But a Moroccan agency does not work only with foreigners. Diaspora families come back in summer and for the holidays, and book transfers, desert stays or family weekends; residents head to Merzouga or Imlil for a weekend. These clients often read Arabic or French, and look for departures from Casablanca or Rabat, prices in dirhams and family packages. To choose, look at your last thirty bookings: which language did the messages come in?

On the technical side, Google recommends separate URLs for each language version rather than cookies or browser settings, and advises against automatically redirecting visitors from one language version to another. A visible language switcher is enough. Arabic also needs a right-to-left layout, which we handle.

Our plan includes a second language: French and Arabic, or French and English. As our multilingual website page explains, more languages are available on quote. Every page is translated, not just the home page: an English-speaking tourist who clicks “Merzouga” and lands on a French page closes the tab.

Quote requests: WhatsApp first, then the form

In Morocco, travellers message on WhatsApp, tourists included. The site should make that one tap away, on every page, with a ready-written message that names the page it came from. When a message starts with “Hello, I’d like to book the 3-day Merzouga tour for 2 people on 14 December”, you already know what to reply.

The form serves people planning a longer trip or writing from a computer. For a tour, it asks for:

• preferred dates, with any flexibility;
• number of adults and children, and the children’s ages;
• shared or private;
• the hotel or riad for pick-up;
• the preferred language for the guide;
• a free field for special requests (diet, reduced mobility, birthday);
• WhatsApp number and email address.

Ask for nothing more. Morocco’s personal data law, Law 09-08, requires data to be “adequate, relevant and not excessive” for its purpose (Article 3). A passport number has no place in a quote request: if you need one, ask at confirmation. The privacy policy, which explains what you do with this data, is one of the legal pages in our plan.

Reply fast, and in writing

The site produces enquiries; your reply produces bookings. Set a response time and display it: “reply within two hours, 8 am to 10 pm”. Prepare template replies for your five most requested tours, with itinerary, price, inclusions and terms. For a package, that is also what Article 18 of Law 11-16 asks: the client gets this information before committing. And you keep a written record of what was promised.

What about payment?

The showcase website we build does not take payments online and has no availability calendar. An enquiry comes in, you check space in the vehicle or at the camp, you confirm in writing, and you get paid as you do today: a deposit by bank transfer, the balance on the day, or on your own terms. That is how you already handle WhatsApp enquiries, and it lets you match each reply to the space you have.

If you sell hundreds of seats a day and want travellers to book and pay on their own, around the clock, you need booking software with a calendar and payments: a different tool, with its own subscription, not included in our plan.

Reviews and Google Business Profile: proof before the message

Before writing to a company they do not know, travellers look for proof that others went with it and came back happy. Google reviews appear as soon as they type your name.

Your Google Business Profile must be verified and complete: the agency’s exact name, office address, hours, phone, a main category that describes your business (travel agency, tour operator, transport service), photos of vehicles and trips, and a link to the site. The site and the profile must say the same thing; our plan includes setting up or optimising this profile. The full method is in our guide to local SEO and Google Maps in Morocco.

Getting reviews without breaking the rules

The best moment to ask is the evening after the trip, while the traveller is still looking at their desert photos. Send a short WhatsApp message with the direct link to your profile’s review form. The guide or driver can also show a QR code at the end of the day.

Google’s policy for content on Maps prohibits paid reviews, whether in cash or in kind, prohibits offering a benefit in exchange for a review, and prohibits selectively asking only for positive reviews. So no discount for a review, and no link sent only to happy clients: ask everyone.

Reply to every review, especially the bad ones, calmly and with a solution. On the site, show your Google rating, the number of reviews and a few recent extracts, with a link to the profile; credit the source of reviews taken from a platform. And never invent a review.

Photos, speed, trust: the details that make people write

A traveller cannot try an excursion before buying it: they judge on what they see.

• Real photos: your camp in Merzouga, the inside of the tent, your vehicles with their signage, your guides, travellers on the trip (with their consent). Stock photos are easy to spot and cost you trust instead of earning it.
• The “About the agency” page: who you are, since when, office address, licence number, insurer, team. Careful travellers read it, and so does the hotel thinking of sending you its guests.
• Speed: travellers check your site on their phone, sometimes in a taxi, sometimes on limited roaming data. Light pages, WebP images, no heavy background video: our sites are built to load fast on 4G.

A blog is useful for an agency, because travellers prepare their trip by searching for answers: “what to wear for a desert night in January”, “how many days for Merzouga from Marrakech”, “what to see in the Ourika Valley”. Each article links to the matching tour, and our plan includes one written for you every month. This content is also what AI assistants read when travellers ask them for advice; we explain what that changes in our article on how Moroccan businesses appear in AI assistants.

Common mistakes on travel agency and tour websites

The problems we come across most often on the sites of agencies, excursion companies and tourist transport firms in Morocco.

Mistake	Consequence	Fix
No licence number	Article 11 not complied with, wary travellers	Number in the footer and on the “About the agency” page
All excursions on one page	None of them ranks, travellers cannot find what they want	One page per tour, with its own title
“Price on request” everywhere	Travellers assume you are more expensive	Prices in dirhams, shared and private
Vague “included”	Disputes on the day, bad reviews	Two lists: included and not included
Site in one language only	Part of your clientele leaves	At least two languages, every page translated
Text copied from the platforms	Duplicate content Google has no reason to show	Copy written for your site, with your details
A “Book now” button that promises a payment that does not exist	Confused travellers, abandoned enquiries	“Get a quote” or “Message us on WhatsApp” button
No cancellation terms	Hesitation at the moment of commitment	Clear terms on every tour page

What a travel agency website costs, and what ours includes

On the Moroccan market, a showcase website costs from around 5,000 DH with a freelancer and 15,000 to 45,000 DH with a traditional agency, for the build alone; hosting, domain and maintenance come on top. The full three-year calculation is in our article on website costs in Morocco.

At Bzaf Studio, the all-inclusive plan costs 399 DH a month including VAT, with a 12-month commitment, then month to month. Or 4,550 DH a year including VAT, which is 238 DH less than twelve monthly payments. There is no set-up fee: the first month is paid when you order, by bank transfer. The plan includes:

• a showcase website of up to 30 pages, with a custom, mobile-first design;
• one page per tour, excursion and transfer, within the 30 pages;
• a second language (French and Arabic, or French and English);
• the enquiry form and the WhatsApp button on every page;
• SEO on every page, and your Google Business Profile linked to the site;
• legal pages, with your licence number where it must appear;
• the domain name in .ma or .com, hosting and maintenance, SSL, backups and small changes (a seasonal price, a photo, a timetable);
• one blog article written for you every month.

The site goes live within 5 working days of your complete brief, and you approve every page before launch. What we need from you: your list of tours with prices and itineraries, inclusions, terms, licence number, and your best photos. If you already have them in a brochure or a file, that is enough to start.

What it does not do, and it is not the right choice if this is what you need:

• Instant booking with online payment and a seat calendar. Our site collects enquiries; it does not take payments.
• An online shop, with a basket and stock management.
• A site for three months, just for one season: the commitment is 12 months.

And if you offer a hundred tours, the plan will not cover it as it stands: it includes up to 30 pages, and extra pages are quoted separately, at a per-page rate given in advance.

We work from Marrakech, where we have built, among others, the site of a tailor-made golf holiday service, and we reply within 24 hours on WhatsApp. Send us your list of tours and we will tell you how it fits into the site. The same direct-booking logic for accommodation is covered in our article on riad and hotel websites, useful if you work with them.

Pre-launch checklist

Whether we build your site or someone else does, check these points on your phone, on 4G, before you announce it.

• Your licence number appears in the footer of every page and in the legal notice.
• Each tour has its own page, with a title matching a real search, a price in dirhams, inclusions, exclusions, pick-up details and cancellation terms.
• Wherever a guide is mentioned, the page says it is a licensed tour guide.
• The WhatsApp button opens a chat with the right number and a message naming the tour.
• The form really sends an email, tested with a real enquiry, and asks only for what is needed.
• Transfer pages show a price per vehicle, the number of passengers and bags, and the meeting point.
• Every page exists in each language, with its own URL.
• The photos are yours, and your Google Business Profile is verified and linked to the site, with the same address.
• The privacy policy and booking terms are online.

When should you expect the first direct enquiries?

For your company name, a properly built site usually appears within a few days to two weeks: that is the traveller’s checking search, and it is the one that matters first. For “desert tour Marrakech”, competition is strong and rankings build over several months, with reviews, tour pages and articles. The first sign to watch for: more precise messages that mention a tour and a date. To get started, the order page takes five minutes, and the full details are on our offer page.