And for good reason: the ministerial department has failed in its promises. The professionals in question declare having solicited the representatives of the supervisory ministry, who for their part, had promised to intervene officially with online travel agencies (OTAs) such as "Booking.com" or "Expedia" to remove from their websites accommodation not approved by Morocco. "Despite the numerous reminders from the Association, the Ministry has to date sent no official notification to these internet portals.

Today all informal tourist accommodation establishments are present on the internet and exercise unfair competition," indicate in this sense the members of the Marrakech Guest House Association.

And to add: "Not intervening to put an end to this presence on the portals constitutes a real blessing given to illegal accommodation which can freely prosper. It is time to put a real stop to such practices. Classified guest houses simply ask the Ministry to require OTAs to respect Moroccan law by only presenting approved establishments on their sites."

The managers of the guest houses indicate that the promotion of informal accommodation establishments weakens all those who market their accommodation in full legality. "It would be a shame to see the informal sector develop and even more to observe classified accommodation closed only to reopen in an undeclared form. The economy must not slide from the legal to the informal, it is absolutely necessary to avoid such an evolution," deplore the members of the association who are supported in this cause by professionals from Fez, Ouarzazate, and Rabat.