Hard-up hoteliers want Morocco to legalise premarital sex

IT IS BAD enough that the pandemic cut the number of foreign tourists by 80%; to make matters even worse, Morocco’s ban on extramarital sex is stifling the domestic market in hotel beds. Unmarried couples caught in the same room are liable to jail terms of up to a year under Article 490 of the penal code. Each week the police check hotel records to uphold the law. Receptionists-turned-private detectives require verification of marriage certificates before handing over the keys. “I get more calls from unmarried couples wanting to stay than anyone else,” says Meryem Zniber, who runs a resort in the Rif mountains. “I could fill my hotel 100% if only they’d lift the law.”