Katarzyna Najmrocka - All roads lead to Marrakech: Anthropological notes

For centuries Marrakech has been a popular destination for all kinds of travellers – from migrants, tradesmen, artists, vagabonds to colonial forces. Cultural interactions occurred within the city’s red clay walls.  Today, tourism is bringing a large number of visitors from all parts of the world to Marrakech. Marrakech is attractive to tourists due to the oriental charm of its medina quarter and the enchanting Jemaa el Fna square. Mass tourism has also encouraged the development of ideas about cultural heritage protection. It has also contributed to cultural commodification, which kills authenticity. Marrakech and especially the medina quarter have become trendy for guided tours, foreigners and investors.  The social landscape of the medina has changed– both in good and bad ways. A process of gentrification is visible. There is a strong need to develop analyses of tourism in Marrakech’s medina which go further than critiquing mass tourism. We should give voice to each stakeholder – from tour operators, tourists, travellers to members of the medina society – storytellers, craftsmen, foreigners and Marrakech locals. Keywords: tourist gaze, orientalism, medina, Marrakech, Jemaa el Fna, gentrification, post-tourism, mass tourism