Morocco’s push to develop tourism in Western Sahara is drawing growing scrutiny from rights groups, legal experts, and campaign organisations around the world.
The city of Dakhla, sprawling along a windswept peninsula where the Sahara meets the Atlantic, has become a focal point of this tourism expansion effort.
Irish airline Ryanair offers return flights to Dakhla from Madrid starting from just €30, while dozens of accommodation options now advertise the area as Morocco’s hidden gem.
Despite the promotional language, any tourist making the trip would be landing in one of the world’s longest ongoing territorial disputes.
The United Nations classifies Western Sahara as a “non-self-governing territory,” meaning the local population is not able to govern itself.
Some 80% of Western Sahara is occupied and administered by Morocco, which considers the territory part of its sovereign land, referring to it as its “southern provinces.”
Visitor numbers to Morocco-controlled Western Sahara have risen by more than 50% over the past seven years, jumping from 490,297 in 2019 to 743,133 in 2025, according to the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism.
The boom is being fuelled by expanding air links, with airlines including Ryanair, Transavia France, and Binter Canarias now operating direct routes from Madrid, Paris, and the Canary Islands respectively.
Tom Ruck, a 29-year-old UK tourist who flew to Dakhla from Madrid with Ryanair, described the destination as feeling like it “was in its infancy,” with newly built resorts that were “very, very empty.”
He received a Moroccan stamp in his passport and noted that Morocco’s flag flies across the city throughout his stay.
Both Ryanair and Transavia France list destinations within Western Sahara as being part of Morocco, while Binter Canarias bucks this trend by calling the area Western Sahara.
Transavia France told the BBC the firm “operates flights to Dakhla in accordance with the authorisations received from the authorities,” while Ryanair did not respond to a request for comment.
Erik Hagen, of the campaign group Western Sahara Resource Watch, warned that airlines referring to the territory as Morocco is both concerning and misleading.
“When companies market destinations there as Moroccan, they risk contributing to a distortion of International law and public understanding,” Hagen said, raising “serious questions about corporate responsibility and due diligence in politically sensitive and illegally occupied territories.”
Major international booking sites including Expedia, Booking.com, and Trivago also list hotels in the territory as being located in Morocco.
A Booking.com spokesperson said the platform advises travellers to “consult their government’s official travel advisories as part of their decision-making process,” adding that its “approach is consistent globally.”
Dr Andrea Maria Pelliconi, an expert in international human rights law at the University of Southampton, said airlines and booking sites “should distinguish Western Sahara as a territory with a different status from Morocco.”
She warned that companies failing to make this distinction could face litigation for violating international law, Sahrawi rights to self-determination, consumer protection rules, and fair competition rules under EU law.
The Polisario Front, which controls a narrow eastern strip of the territory and has long demanded independence, says tourism is being used to impose a “fait accompli” to Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara.
Polisario Front representative to the UK and Ireland Sidi Breika said: “We hope Morocco understands that investing in tourism or any other economical projects does not replace the will of Sahrawis people and its inalienable right to decide its future.”