FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016 file photo, people gather in the landmark Jemaa el-Fnaa square, in Marrakesh, Morocco. A FIFA task force arrived in Morocco on Monday, April 16, 2018 to inspect a World Cup bid that obscures one potential impediment to hosting the 2026 soccer showpiece: homosexuality is a criminal offense in the north African country. An Associated Press review of 483 pages of documents submitted to FIFA found Morocco failed to declare its anti-LGBT law as a risk factor and provide a remedy, appearing to flout stringent new bidding requirements.(AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, file)
Moroccan officials have placed Airbnb and Booking.com in their cross-hairs, looking to level the playing field for traditional hotels as a “new reality” forces Africa’s biggest tourism destination to re-evaluate efforts to drum up business.
Vacation rentals offered on online portal Airbnb Inc will be subject to tax beginning in 2019, bridging a legal void that has hurt the more than 3,800 hotels and hundreds of travel agencies operating in the country, said Mehdi Taleb, head of regulation, development and quality at Morocco’s Tourism, Air Transport and Social Economy Ministry. Tax officials will work with undercover hotel inspectors and interior ministry informants to ensure enforcement.
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