Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series

Title:
Tourism versus the transformation of ksours - Southern Morocco case study

Authors

Anna Dłużewska - Maria Curie Sklodowska University, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Department of Regional Geography and Tourism, Kraśnicka 2cd Street, 20-718 Lublin; phone: +48 606 903 999; e-mail: dluzewska.a@gmail.com (corresponding author)

Maciej Dłużewski - University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, Krakowskie Przedmieście Street 30, 00-927 Warszawa; phone: +48 600 850 390; e-mail: dluzewski@uw.edu.pl

Keywords
ksours; Morocco; Dades; Drâa; sustainable tourism; transformation

Abstract
Ksours form a cultural landscape for most of the countries of North Africa. They are an important part of the cultural heritage of the desert areas in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mali or Morocco. They also become an undeniable attraction for tourism. The article looks at the impact of tourism on the transformation of ksours. It is based on comparative field research in the Dades-Drâa Valley (Southern Morocco), the region of the highest ksour concentration. The results show that despite being very close to most sustainable tourism indicators, the whole impact of tourism is rather negative. Tourism is creating social disproportions, being the first incentive to abandon the ksours by those who are not involved in the sector. This is leading to the destruction of particular houses first, and later to the destruction of the whole village. The revitalization of ksours remains a theoretical solution only; thus the author suggests paying greater attention to social equity in order to stop the transformation of ksours at the 2nd stage of development .

Pages:
77-86

DOI:
10.1515/bog-2017-0015

BGSS No. 36 (2017)