A large group of Israelis is currently on a ten-day organized tour in Morocco. They arrived in the country on board one of the first commercial flights from Israel to the North African Arab state.

The tour, organized by the Flying Carpet travel company in conjunction with unidentified Moroccan tourism companies, began with a direct flight from Israel to Morocco via Spain, on a Spanish carrier. The flight, including a one-hour stopover in Spain, takes only six hours. While Israelis did sometimes travel to Morocco prior to the PLO-initiated war in 2000, the tourists had to make the trip indirectly, registering a port of departure other than Israel on the way.

Moroccan authorities, including the ministries of foreign affairs and tourism, recently gave their approval for the direct flights and organized tours. Agreement with the Moroccan tourism companies was reached in November of 2003, when Moroccan Minister of Tourism Adid Douiri promised to approve the packages.

The first such flight to Morocco landed on February 12 and was fully booked, carrying 180 tourists and journalists on a four-day jaunt. In addition to the ten-day organized tours, Flying Carpet is organizing four-day weekend trips, and 14-day tours are in the works. Flying Carpet's Vice President for Marketing, Eyal Kashdan, told the Globes financial newspaper that demand was high for upcoming flights. Weekend tours to Marrakesh will cost $499 and up, and the ten-day organized tours cost $999.