A low-cost promotional email from Irish carrier Ryanair, advertising cheap €30 return flights from Madrid to the coastal Saharan city of Dakhla as a “Moroccan adventure”, has pulled back the curtain on a growing controversy at the intersection of global tourism and a 50-year-old unresolved territorial dispute. As the $35 ticket price and a flood of new accommodation options from budget hostels to luxury retreats draw growing numbers of international tourists to the region, the labeling of Dakhla and other Western Sahara destinations as part of Morocco has ignited fierce debate over international law, corporate responsibility, and the sovereignty of the Sahrawi people.
Western Sahara, classified by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory, has been mired in conflict since Spanish colonial withdrawal in 1976. Morocco promptly claimed the resource-rich territory as its own “southern provinces”, launching an armed conflict against the indigenous Sahrawi independence movement, the Polisario Front. A 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire established a framework for a binding referendum on self-determination, but the vote has never been held. Today, Morocco occupies and administers roughly 80% of the territory, while the Polisario Front controls a small eastern sliver and continues to advocate for full independence.
Tourism to the Morocco-controlled portion of Western Sahara has surged in recent years, official data from Morocco’s Ministry of Tourism shows. Visitor numbers have jumped more than 50% over the past seven years, rising from 490,297 in 2019 to 743,133 in 2025. This rapid growth has been driven heavily by expanded air access: alongside Morocco’s national carrier Royal Air Maroc, major European airlines including Ryanair, Transavia France, and Binter Canarias now operate direct routes to the territory from European hubs. Most of these carriers, including Ryanair and Transavia France, explicitly list Western Sahara destinations as part of Morocco in their marketing and booking platforms. Only Binter Canarias breaks from this approach, correctly labeling the territory as Western Sahara. Transavia France has stated it only operates routes in line with official authorizations it has received, while Ryanair has declined to comment on the controversy.
Tourists who have traveled to the region note the tourism sector is still in its early stages. Tom Ruck, a 29-year-old British traveler who flew to Dakhla with Ryanair, reported that dozens of new resort developments remain largely empty, with only a small trickle of family holidaymakers visiting so far. Ruck added that he received a Moroccan entry stamp in his passport, and Moroccan flags are displayed universally across the city, reflecting Rabat’s de facto control of the area.
The practice of labeling Western Sahara as part of Morocco has drawn sharp criticism from human rights campaigners, legal experts, and the Polisario Front, who argue that it normalizes and legitimizes what they view as Morocco’s illegal occupation in violation of international law. Erik Hagen, a spokesperson for advocacy group Western Sahara Resource Watch, warned that mislabeling the territory distorts public understanding of its status and raises critical questions about corporate due diligence in occupied, politically sensitive regions. Major international travel booking platforms, including Expedia, Booking.com, and Trivago, have also been drawn into the row: all three currently list hotels in Western Sahara as located in Morocco. Booking.com says it adds general disclaimers for disputed regions and advises travelers to check official government travel advisories, while Expedia has declined to comment and Trivago has not yet issued a statement.
Andrea Maria Pelliconi, an expert in international human rights law at the University of Southampton, argues that airlines and booking platforms have a clear legal obligation to distinguish Western Sahara’s disputed status from sovereign Moroccan territory. She warns that companies that fail to make this distinction could face potential litigation on multiple fronts, including violations of international law and the Sahrawi people’s inherent right to self-determination, as well as breaches of EU consumer protection and fair competition rules.
Pressure from advocacy groups has already yielded some shifts in industry practice: last year, home-sharing platform Airbnb changed its policy and stopped labeling Western Sahara listings as part of Morocco.
For the Polisario Front, the growing tourism push is a deliberate strategy by Morocco to cement its claim to the territory through a fait accompli, while leaving most tourists uninformed of the underlying dispute. Sidi Breika, the Polisario Front’s representative to the UK and Ireland, emphasized that all economic and tourism projects in the illegally occupied territory violate the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination, a right explicitly recognized by the United Nations. Breika added that the movement is monitoring Ryanair’s activities closely and is actively considering legal action against the carrier.
Recent diplomatic developments have tilted in Morocco’s favor: in October 2024, the UN Security Council voted to prioritize Morocco’s proposal for an autonomous status for Western Sahara as a path forward, while extending the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in the region for another year. The push for the resolution was led by the United States, which first formally recognized Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara in 2020 under the Trump administration, as part of a deal that saw Morocco normalize relations with Israel. Despite this shift, the formal international legal position still requires a mutually agreed political solution to the dispute under UN supervision, and the Polisario Front has repeatedly rejected Morocco’s autonomy proposal.
Breika stressed that the Sahrawi people’s position remains unwavering: investments in tourism and other economic projects can never replace the Sahrawi people’s right to freely determine their own future.