Yacht marina planned for Tangier

In December, The View from Fez team visited Tangier and found a city well worth visiting, one that has left its somewhat sleazy past behind and is now a great place to spend a few days (see the story here). A new yachting marina is planned for the 'white city', with construction starting next year.

Tangier port

"This major project will make the port of Tangier and its bay one of the top marinas and cruise destinations in the Mediterranean," said President of Tangier Port Development, Abdelouafi Laftit, in a statement recently.

Among other new developments, the new port will accommodate bigger cruise ships and pleasure boats. Mr. Laftit also said that additional space will be available for hotels and other tourism activities in an effort to promote new services in the port area. Space will be dedicated to sea fishing, which is currently one of most dynamic activities in the port.

In addition, a residential development will be built in the vicinity which will include leisure and cultural activities.

The passenger ferry port will move to a new terminal at the massive Tanger-Med port, located twenty kilometers to the east of the city. This change will be phased in between April and October this year. The new terminal will be able to handle the large number of passengers to and from southern Europe. Moving the port to Tanger-Med means that the city will no longer be congested with heavy truck traffic. This is intended to make Tangier a more leisurely, clean and cultured city that will attract more visitors from Europe and elsewhere.