Tourist Encounters of the Moroccan Kind: Contrasting Approaches to Tourism in Anthropology and in the Moroccan Tourism Industry

Tourism is a rapidly growing industry that is influential throughout the world. Certain countries, such as Morocco, have chosen to expand tourism, though some academic writers have questioned the efficacy of this development. This independent study project examines the disconnect between how anthropologists view the tourist encounter and the Moroccan tourism industry promotes it. I look at literature published by the Moroccan tourism industry and by anthropologists and academics on tourism, as well as incorporating my experiences with my time abroad in Morocco. With this information, I construct two short scripts for travel television shows to demonstrate more visually the difference between the two visions of tourism. The scripts demonstrate the difference in approach of the two sources in describing the tourist encounter. When put into conversation with each other, the scripts reveal some of the many layers and complexities of the tourist encounter in Morocco, such as the presence of Orientalist discourse