Casablanca: out of the office

The fact seems to be established: if the French fly to Casablanca, it's not for a holiday but to do business. A lot of business: France accounts for almost half of Morocco's foreign trade with the European Union, and alone accounted for almost 54 % of foreign investment in Morocco between 1999 and 2003. And Casablanca is home to most of the 500 French subsidiaries that have chosen Morocco as their base.

But Casablanca is more than just a place to work. Alongside the development of the new Technopark and Sidi Marouf, the "Silicon Valley of Morocco" where IBM, Microsoft and many of the call centres are based, Casablanca has not forgotten the leisure sector, with a particularly wide range of activities. Business travellers are therefore not condemned to hole up in their hotel room after their meetings, even if they have already exhausted the most popular options: a visit to the great Hassan II mosque, a look at the Art Deco heritage, or 'craft' shopping in the Habbou district. "Of course, Casablanca has grown up with business, and people don't come here looking for folklore like in other major tourist destinations in Morocco," says Mathilde Delcroix, Technical Director of Team Travel Service, "but Casablanca offers something totally different: a real urban atmosphere, more authentic."

From the street to the beach, clean-up operation

Authentic, but not necessarily relaxed. With the reorganisation of transport, the illumination of buildings and a programme to plant a million trees, the city is striving for a facelift. "Everything has changed here in the last three years. Visitors are delighted to see how clean the streets are. Even though the main beneficiaries of these clean-up operations are of course the Casablancans themselves", remarks Ibtissame Benchekroun, Divisional Inspector at the Moroccan National Tourist Office. The big clean-up has also extended to the city's beaches, behind the Corniche, where private swimming pools with evocative names - Miami, Acapulco, Tropicana, Tahiti, etc. - continue to be favoured by the more affluent. "Here, in August, it's always packed, even if the rate goes up to 80 dirhams (7.3 euros) a day", notes the cashier at Miami Plage, where tourists and locals mingle on the beach, around the pools and bungalows.

After seven o'clock in the evening, the Corniche becomes the symbol of Casablanca's laid-back urbanity: you can stroll between pubs and piano bars, dine overlooking the ocean at the Petit Rocher or La Fibule, go to a show or the cinema at the new Mégarama complex; you can also sleep in palaces like the Riad Salam or in the more 'hotel des Flots bleus' atmosphere of the four- and three-star hotels that line the maritime artery.

Golf as a rallying point

Those who don't appreciate the seaside resort atmosphere so connoted with the dolce vita of North Africa can always fall back on golf. Not in the outer suburbs, but right in the city centre, at the Royal Golf Club d'Anfa in the very chic Aïn Diab district, where the wind from Mercedes and Jaguars rocks the palm trees. According to legend, this nine-hole course was created to satisfy Churchill's golfing desires on the occasion of the famous Anfa conference (1943). Diplomatic necessity gave rise to a select club with 3,800 members, which has become the central rallying point for Casablanca's high society, a mix of locals and expatriates. "Of course, those who want an 18-hole course can always head to the Royal Golf Club in Mohammedia: it's only a 15-minute drive from here," explains Mr Belgrini, the club's director. But true aesthetes will find it hard to give up the charms of the green overlooking the minaret of the Great Mosque.