Responsible Tourism in Morocco: Community, Culture & Sustainable Travel w/ Azdean | S04E08 - video Dailymotion

Tangelic Life

🎙️ What if tourism could actually strengthen communities — instead of extracting from them?  In this episode of Tangelic Talks, hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez travel to North Africa in conversation with Azdean — Morocco travel expert, founder of Destination Morocco, and host of the Destination Morocco podcast.  Azdean has spent years building travel experiences that go beyond landmarks and Instagram moments. His work connects visitors directly with women's co-ops, nomadic families, local artisans, and Berber communities — ensuring that tourism dollars flow back to the people who make Morocco what it is.  This isn't a travel commercial. This is a conversation about what travel can be when it's done right.  In This Episode, We Explore: 🏜️ Why the Sahara Desert is the one experience in Morocco you cannot miss 🤝 How Destination Morocco was built from a father's mission to keep his son connected to his roots 👩‍🍳 Women's co-ops, Argan oil, and how conscious travel investments reach single mothers in rural Morocco 🚫 The "aquarium effect" — how to visit communities without turning them into a spectacle 📊 Morocco's record-breaking 17.4 million visitors in 2024 — and the community impact behind the numbers 🔒 Safety, solo travel, tourism police, and the nuanced cultural realities on the ground 🎭 How movies and media distort perceptions of Morocco — and what the country is actually like 🌐 Why Morocco's tourism focus needs to shift from Europe to North America and Asia 🎒 One mindset shift that makes any traveler more responsible: lower expectations, higher curiosity  🔹 About Our Guest: Azdean is a Morocco travel expert and founder of Destination Morocco. Born in Marrakech with family roots in a historic 400-year-old kasbah village near Aït Benhaddou, he brings deep cultural knowledge and genuine community connections to every travel experience he designs. He works with local artisans, women's cooperatives, and families across Morocco to ensure tourism uplifts the communities it touches.  💬 Join the Conversation: Have you ever visited a country where the community experience changed how you think about travel? Would Morocco be on your list? Drop your thoughts below 👇  🌱 Support the Mission: Help us amplify stories of clean energy, equity, and climate justice. 👉 TangelicLife.org  🔖 #ResponsibleTourism #MoroccoTravel #SustainableTravel #CommunityTourism #DestinationMorocco #CulturalImmersion #EthicalTravel #TravelMorocco #NorthAfrica #SustainableTourism #CommunityEmpowerment#TangelicTalks #MoroccoTourism  🎯 responsible tourism Morocco, sustainable travel Morocco, community tourism, ethical travel, Morocco travel guide, immersive travel experience, cultural tourism Morocco, women's co-ops Morocco, Sahara Desert travel, local tourism investment, travel podcast, North Africa travel, solo travel Morocco, Azdean Morocco, Tangelic Talks

Transcript

00:00and be nice be nice when you're nice even when things go wrong you still you can still get a

00:05lot

00:06more than in a situation that you would normally get so that's what i i would you know say morocco

00:13is really loved and appreciated because of its people it's not you know the culture is great

00:18the architecture the history it's all great but it's it's the people in 2024 for the first time

00:24morocco ranked number one in africa uh you know versus egypt egypt has always been number one and

00:31we did 17.4 million visitors 2025 because we we organized many uh mice events and also uh soccer

00:38events especially the the last one the african cup of nations and we almost did 20 million visit we did

00:4519.8 certainly i am the woman engaging for your podcast consider great tell me as a suggestion

00:53that combines enough beat an abiding spirit without any micro music welcome to tangelic talks

00:59your go-to podcast from tangelic where we dive into the vibrant world of clean energy development

01:04sustainability and climate change in africa we bring you inspiring stories insightful discussions

01:10and groundbreaking innovations from the continent making waves in the global community tune in

01:16and join the conversation toward a brighter greener future let's get started

01:23welcome to tangelic talks a podcast at the intersection of energy equity and empowerment

01:28with your co-host victoria cornelio and andres thames in today's episode we're heading to north

01:33africa to explore what responsible tourism can really look like on the ground beyond buzzwords

01:39glossy brochures all that sort of stuff and we've got azedan here to help us understand he's a

01:44morocco travel expert and the host of the destination morocco podcast and in this conversation we're

01:50going to unpack how tourism can become a tool for sustainability local investment cultural

01:55preservation and what it really means to build community-centered travel experiences in a world

02:00that is facing if i dare say so myself some climate and social challenges welcome to the podcast

02:07thank you so much for this incredible opportunity victoria and andres really really appreciate it so

02:13i'm thrilled to be a guest on your podcast and uh to learn you know with the audience about

02:19morocco amazing well tell us tell us your your story right you're from morocco yes yes so the one

02:28thing you have to see in morocco when you go oh my goodness victoria that's a really really difficult

02:34question but i have been i i i could tell you there's so many places but i would say the

02:40one thing

02:40that you really have to experience is definitely uh merzuga desert the desert is definitely the one not to

02:47miss okay okay okay perfect i love it is that a personal preference you have a story with the

02:54desert tell us more yeah because um a lot of people they think that the desert you're just gonna you

03:00know go and spend the night and come back and and you that's it it's off your bucket list but

03:05it's

03:06actually there's so much um things to see and do in the desert and for me um i went to

03:12it the first time

03:13we did just like everybody else you do the camera wide you do the dinner um the next day morning

03:18just

03:18pack and and go but then afterwards uh we did uh you know we explored uh the dunes and we

03:26we drove a

03:26four by four which was a lot of fun uh for me and and then my team and also we

03:32visited the uh nomad family

03:34uh which is an eye-opening experience as well victoria and then we did some caves uh visits and then

03:41fossils

03:42uh as you know that part of morocco is just full of fossils and you can see them uh actually

03:48in most uh

03:49american museums uh they're actually from morocco so there's a lot of history then we went to a village

03:55called hamlia village and that's when we did a little bit of gunawa music and the history of gunawa music

04:00in that region

04:01so i mean you can spend an average two to three days in the desert and just have an amazing

04:07amazing

04:08time so cool i think you've pitched it very well no wonder you have a full travel agency about this

04:14can you tell us about the birth of destination morocco where the the idea come from that's a really good

04:21question victoria you know me and my wife back home we are neighbors so we travel back and forth um

04:27and it

04:27it was it was all right and then once we had our son it kind of movements and it's like

04:32hey you know

04:33what things are different now and we want him to know his roots and one of the best ways for

04:40us to do that

04:44he's the one that really inspired us uh to do so because he is an american that's you know he's

04:51born

04:51here but he needs to know his roots and that was extremely crucial um now he's 10 years old and

04:58he's been to morocco three or four times speaks the language fluently and and he loves the country so

05:03when we go to shows and and conferences uh he says morocco better than i do

05:11that's so cool mission accomplished yes thank you thank you andreas absolutely that's that's

05:16so i feel very happy with that i love that and you work at this intersection of travel culture

05:22community like you said you know you go visit the communities when you are in the desert you're not

05:27just right driving through and getting your cool pictures so how do you personally define responsible

05:33tourism more than a buzzword well we have to do those things because uh you know last year um one

05:42of

05:42the most requested experiences in morocco is we realize that people they want to be connected with

05:49the community they want to see the amazir people the berber people they want to spend time with them

05:55whether it's lunch whether it's a trekking whether it's um you know cooking experience anything everything

06:01that they want um they want to experience it with the locals whether in the atlas mountains whether it's

06:08in a small village or at you know the the desert or with the nomads so it's really really crucial

06:15uh

06:15for them to do that that's one one of the trends that we have seen in 2025 then some of

06:21the travelers

06:22they kick it a notch a little bit more and they say hey you know what uh we have a

06:26purpose we just don't

06:27want to you know just visit i know these places are really unique and so forth they wanted to donate

06:32they

06:32wanted to help communities um and we ourselves we work with a lot of communities uh we work with you

06:40know women's co-op whether it's uh argan oil in in the outskirts of a sawera or uh you know

06:46co-ops

06:47carpets in the tin girl or eight but i do uh so we do work quite a bit with you

06:52know uh single mom

06:53single parents um and and and the travelers they really really appreciate that because they see where

06:58their investment is going it's not going you know to a big corporation of ceo it's just it's really

07:04really helping um the small communities in morocco so it's a win-win situation yeah that's incredible

07:11is how do you make sure that people the community the locals are involved in tourism without it being like

07:20i like to call it the aquarium effect where it's like you go to an aquarium and it's like oh

07:24look at all

07:25the animals but it's sort of just like you're do you see what i mean like how do you yes

07:33well there's i remember when we went to to to isawara and it was the the women's co-op and

07:39the

07:39escorts of isawara actually and when you go to the women's club there there are places where they you

07:45know they basically the the seed or the argan seed goes through five different stages and you'll see

07:51women sitting um they don't speak the language but just minding their business doing their job

07:57and those i mean you can just go and just see the process um and they're perfectly fine with it

08:04but

08:04then when you go to to the other side those are the ones that they're involved with you so if

08:09somebody

08:09is in you know they speak the language they want to showcase you know everything that they have and

08:14show it to you maybe sell it to you and stuff like that but just they want you to be

08:17aware of what

08:18they have the product they have and the benefits of it so um in a way the the women or

08:25the people

08:25that they want to be seen they'll be seen and get involved the ones that just they just want to

08:29be

08:29behind the scene they'll still be behind the scene um because i remember we did a podcast episode and

08:35normally um visitors don't even go there you know it's very rare so so for us we had that opportunity

08:41and

08:42we really really appreciate it because uh you know it was a lot of fun i remember it was it

08:46was quite nice

08:47yeah i really like that it sounds very holistic you know you're not just going on vacation but

08:53you're kind of you know immersing yourself in a way that gives back to the community rather than just

08:58extracting for the experience and for the instagram absolutely absolutely i've heard that a lot more

09:05recently about people traveling more for a cultural exchange or at least a an exchange of people

09:10right uh they they have like that hunger to make connections at the even if they're one-off right but

09:16those connections i think i think i think it's like people rediscovering how important just meeting

09:22people is and making connections with people is uh how do you how do you feel about like the fact

09:26that

09:26people are more interested in actually just being on the ground and learning about the people not just

09:33seeing stuff that's really important and thank you so much and the rest it's a great question that's

09:39again that's the trend that we we we realize in 2025 you're absolutely right people they want to they

09:44want to be connected with other people uh they don't want to just go to a touristy place and where

09:49everybody is and so quiet they want to do something that no one else can do for example it's very

09:54unique

09:54and it's very specific to that you know to that place that space for example in in morocco we have

09:59what

09:59we call uh riyadh we also have hotels we have over 200 uh international brands but also we have riyadh

10:07and

10:07riyadh uh they're different than hotels they're you know uh moroccan houses back in in the 19th century

10:13and that's where they you know families multi-family used to live and it's really unique to morocco so

10:19when when when the travelers come to morocco that's where we take them to stay and there's no two riyadh

10:24that are equal they're all decorated different they're all you know very different than you can in each

10:30way possible so and that again it adds to the element of experience element of immersing yourself

10:37in that local experience then we do cooking class sometimes the cooking class the chef will come in

10:43we'll take them to the local market and they we pick up the vegetables the meat whatever they want to

10:47have uh cook or we can do it at a farm which is a little bit more again you know

10:52the immersion of a

10:53culture uh you know what everything is organic and and it's just it does make a huge difference

10:58andrea you're absolutely right yeah yeah because it's you you get to live the culture rather than

11:07just see it from the sides and that's really cool oh i want to go to morocco how do you

11:13prime the

11:14tourists to be responsible right how do you prime them to go there like is there something you do or

11:21do

11:21you just trust that people that are interested in it will sort of more or less know how to not

11:26be

11:26disrespectful and to you know not do like the classic tourist destructive tourist behavior it's

11:34oh that's those questions andreas are just incredible uh you do it in many different ways in and in many

11:40different settings because when when the travelers come to us we do a discovery call and they do ask a

11:47lot of the questions and sometimes even when they don't ask those questions uh we know they're gonna come

11:52up uh or we know because a lot of people ask them before um we're gonna answer them and and

11:57mention

11:58them so it's very important um some of them you know cultural i would say some of them has to

12:03do with

12:04safety especially for solo travelers women are a huge concern and also um the language barrier

12:10uh is morocco safe is what would i be able to communicate with people and stuff like that so

12:15and we do that through you know a few things and then before they travel to morocco we we do

12:21another

12:21meeting just to make sure we go over everything and make sure we have not forgotten any questions

12:26um you know things like that so you know yeah it's it's really really important what's an fa what's an

12:33faq like what's a frequently asked question oh oh my gosh you know it's funny um i when i went

12:40to morocco uh we

12:41created uh uh the what do you call it frequent uh answered or asked questions and we did in terms

12:48of videos we have they're not ready yet but uh we'll have some that are ready soon some of them

12:54i would

12:54say what to wear uh would i be able to go to casablanca mosque do i need to cover my

13:00hair do i need to

13:01cover my head and because of like a mosque is is the only mosque that it's open to to non

13:06-muslims in in

13:07morocco so uh the answer is uh i said you just need to cover your shoulders you don't have to

13:12cover

13:12your hair um one of those questions with the way where well how can i dress up in morocco and

13:18i always

13:19say dress up the way that you know makes you comfortable you know whatever you however you

13:23dress up back home dress up the same way um morocco is very diverse it's very laid-back country and

13:29and tourism is massive um you know in morocco so people they expect tourists to dress up like tourists so

13:36you know which is you know so just to give you a little bit of numbers uh victoria and andres

13:40um in 2024 for the first time morocco ranked number one in africa uh you know versus egypt egypt has

13:48always been number one and we did 17.4 million visitors 2025 because we we organized many uh mice

13:56events and also soccer events especially the the last one the african cup of nations and we almost did

14:0220 million visitors we did 19.8 so you can just imagine how big that is uh in a way

14:08if you look

14:08at morocco and the families in morocco every household has at least one person working directly

14:14or indirectly in the tourism industry so tourism in morocco it's it's pretty big yeah we both come

14:21from countries that are very tourist dominated so we this is why this is so interesting to us because

14:26it's like are you guys doing it differently and better maybe

14:32and that's the thing tourism a lot of times is seen as an economic economic opportunity for the

14:37country right but who actually benefits on the ground from these tours from experiencing destination

14:45morocco i would say uh the the communities the the people it really trickles down all the way to them

14:51so you know if if you're working at a hotel or a yard uh riyads typically are owned by families

14:58or one

14:58owner and stuff like that so he'll get some the staff will get some so everybody really benefits from

15:04it um i remember we use khalil uh he's a local god in in casablanca reason for the hassan the

15:10second

15:10mosque and he's blind so he always has his son with him or his brother to to help him walk

15:15um and you

15:16know it's two birds with one stone so he's supporting himself and some of that money goes to his his

15:21brother's family as well or his son uh who finished his study um then you know we we we work

15:28with women

15:28in hannah experience that they're widows you know or just single parents so that money really really

15:35goes back deep into the community so it's not just and and even the pay uh we are locals and

15:41we do pay

15:41better than than than the other two operators that are not locals in morocco so and and i think that's

15:48that's really really important yeah then we get involved with you know with charities and and and

15:53other entities uh just to give back to the community so yeah it's a local investment where

16:00everyone's sort of pitching in and reaping rewards right absolutely i think like really part of the

16:06responsibility of sustainable tourism is exactly what you just said like being able to properly compensate

16:12people right um you're not trying to just make a make a company to bring people there and exploit as

16:19much as you can and get the most value out of it as you can um because it's an industry

16:24about people

16:25right 100 yes i i studied tourism so this is all really fast fascinating to me um not like a

16:32not like

16:33deeply but i i got like my technical uh technical bachelors is called here mexico in tourism so

16:38so it's all very it's all very cool thank you so much how much does sustainability factor into the

16:46tours and how you engage with the community and when we talk about sustainability in this context

16:50the whole you know climate sector area because morocco is an area already experiencing climate impacts

16:57so does that affect tourism how does it affect locals can you give us some insights into that it's it's

17:03really hard for me to give any insights but truly uh we try to you know to be as sustainable

17:09as as we

17:10can um you know for the most part so uh yeah yeah awesome yeah no it's doing what you can

17:18yeah yeah of

17:19course yes definitely yes yeah and what do travelers often get wrong about ethical tourism responsible

17:28tourism like have they ever told you i think it's this and you're like whoa no you know it's funny

17:34we you know i'm very grateful uh for this opportunity so um i remember max uh she traveled with us

17:42i believe

17:42back in 2022 2023 and she did the service where they pick you up at the airport um and you

17:49know that

17:49the people when they travel to morocco keep in mind um their perception so her perception versus the reality

17:56uh they completely uh different so when she was picked up at the airport the the girl that picked

18:03her up she was like ah you know i was so surprised and said why max and she's like she

18:07was wearing a

18:08skirt i would not even let my daughter wear that skirt and i just started laughing and said look you

18:13were so concerned a week ago and so scared and afraid and then you went to morocco and everything's like

18:18oh my god this is totally different what a shock so basically it's it morocco is very diverse and again

18:24going back to what to wear in morocco and and people they you know they have been influenced by

18:30the media the tv and sometimes the movies and they don't really depict a really nice image or an actual

18:37image uh of morocco so morocco it's it's it's very laid back it's it's very diverse uh country so yeah

18:45i call it the i don't know if you've seen in movies where you have for example mexico is shown

18:50as

18:51this this white no like this yellow warm sepia yeah yeah absolutely

18:59the same way yes yes watching breaking bad and all of a sudden like i'm seeing my help my state

19:05the state i live in and i'm like i don't see this yellow filter around here it's so funny andreas

19:11we

19:11drove to we drove to las vegas and i remember i passed by and i loved it um and we

19:17stayed you know at a

19:18hotel arba you know uh arba kurbi um i forgot the name of the city it's gorgeous i loved it

19:24but i

19:24i heard of breaking bad i never watched it so but i hear on on the outside it's like oh

19:31my goodness

19:32why why it's a beautiful do you think most of the misconceptions come from media just people

19:40watching maybe the wrong stuff and assuming it's real 100 yes 100 yeah but then when they go they

19:47they love it in so many different ways and levels they love the freedom uh they love the most one

19:55thing that really travels uh this is the feedback that i get uh people have been to 30 countries 40

20:0150

20:02countries and they always say there's only one place that i want to go back to that is that is

20:06morocco

20:07then i say why they say because of the people so morocco is really loved and appreciated because of

20:13its people it's not you know the culture is great the architecture the history it's all great but it's

20:20it's the people so which is just it's incredible that's incredible how do you prepare a community

20:26when you tell them we have this group who's coming for example to see you do your thing by the

20:30river

20:31or or to come see you do your artisan work how does that conversation go we don't really have to

20:37prepare them it's it's natural the hospitality is really it's it's second to none we just say hey

20:43you know we have we have two guests we have victoria and andres coming in and uh you know just

20:48do your

20:48thing and they just give you everything that they haven't done some it's just uh again everybody's

20:53unique when you go to morocco just to give the listeners a little bit of um ideas morocco is pretty

20:59big

20:59um you know it's it's like a driving from new york all the way to miami so the map doesn't

21:04do really

21:04justice tomorrow so it is yes the driving is huge so it is it's a bigger country than the map

21:11shows

21:11and also there's so many different cities and villages and and every time you go to a different

21:18city whether it's fast whether it's marrakesh shivshawan tangier it's actually you go into a different

21:24country because each city has its own vibe its own culture we share the food we share the language

21:29but even the food tastes different and it's prepared different from place to place and then

21:34when you're driving from place to place the scenery changes every 45 minutes so you know with that long

21:39drive you are not going to get bored so it's just it's it's a fascinating place to visit that's so

21:45cool

21:45i don't think a lot of people know it's new york to miami that's crazy and i know because enormous

21:51thank you thank you because i i hear this all the time say hey you know google said that i

21:56should be in

21:56my location in two and a half hours and said yeah that that is correct but they don't take in

22:01consideration you know the traffic the road conditions you know the freeways may be not

22:05available so yeah it is pretty big uh country wow yeah the map doesn't do it justice at all yeah

22:12yeah absolutely absolutely is there a specific area of tourism that you that you gravitated to and

22:21that's why you started doing it how did you find yourself working in tourism in general it's so

22:27funny victoria because you know our son inspired us to create the company but i think in my mind it

22:33really really started very early when i was a kid because i was born and raised in marrakesh but my

22:40family comes from a small village in the outskirts of wazuzeta and that village it's uh you know it has

22:47a

22:47casbah a fortress which is a clouette and for us it it's it's a 400 year old fortress and it

22:53has a

22:54lot of history uh and the next to it is about a you know an hour drive is eight and

22:58we know the

22:59significance of it it's very famous that's where they have made you know hundreds of movies game of

23:04throne uh gladiare one and two and so many others uh and i see tourists all the time and it

23:11never clicked

23:12with me on i see i remember this french company they're out of business now i see their cars i

23:16see you

23:17know their buses um and i go i asked myself what is here to see there's nothing just mountains and

23:24the rocks and dirt but to me that's what i saw but to them they saw history they saw um

23:30incredible sites

23:32you know so much more than me when i was a kid so that actually stayed with me but then

23:38when i came to

23:39dys i started working in in the hospitality industry so which is kind of funny because they are all connected

23:45then i came back to the same thing in tourism so it just it's you know it's it's been with

23:50me all

23:51along i just could not recognize it for some reason what are you like as a tourist what do i

23:57like as a

23:57tourist what are you like so you go explore somewhere new you've never been what are you like what are

24:03you

24:03attracted to when you travel oh that's a good question i i like the surprises um my expectations are not

24:11really high um i make everything fun it doesn't matter for me uh i laugh and have a good time

24:17we

24:17can be freezing in desert and still enjoy it because because i know what it takes to put something

24:24together and how hard and difficult because all the obstacles that come your way just to make

24:29something look simple and basic so uh yeah when i travel i you know fun fun fun is definitely uh

24:37my you

24:37know my list yeah so okay so when you travel you don't have a spreadsheet but when you take people

24:44you do yes yes i need that because like if you just let me go somewhere i'm a horrible tourist

24:52i'm

24:52just like i'm just like don't talk to me i don't want to see anyone i want to talk to

24:56anyone i just

24:57wanted to be away from home and drink and don't ask me to leave the hotel i'm that's not gonna

25:06happen

25:08i think it's very dependent on where you go right and why you're traveling because like you said

25:13yeah yeah for sure you would see we're going for the history right and they're up at 6 a.m

25:18to be in

25:18the desert and you know all do all the stuff and then other people are like i just really want

25:23to dip in

25:24the sea have a little drink have a chill one it really depends why you're doing it are there a

25:31lot

25:31of resorts in morocco oh yes like i said there's doing this small group type and going to a resort

25:39they're very different uh when you go to resort for i mean you can stay at the resort for the

25:44whole

25:44experience if you want and stay just in one place and that's a lot of people like to go for

25:48example to

25:49marrakech or you know agadir rabat or fast and stay in one place they have maybe a week five days

25:54whatever they can stay and you can definitely do that and during that stay you can still do you know

26:00things in the city sometimes you can do you know um day trips outside the the city then you come

26:06back

26:06to your to your resort especially when you're staying in fast uh and marrakech because those you

26:11know there's many things to see outside um even in casablanca you can still do that um and that's

26:17that's the difference the the tools that we do i mean yeah you're right you have to get up early

26:21because it's there's long hours it's uh you know too many a lot of things that are you know planned

26:27for you for that day so that's what really makes it difference the resort uh and if you have few

26:32days

26:32i always say maybe seven eight days and you can do the north side of morocco or you can do

26:36the

26:37southern part of morocco but if you have more days maybe 10 or more you can do a combination of

26:41both and see the whole country on a busy schedule i love that sounds like a very type set schedule

26:48i'm like no man i want to chill with the camels talk to me in the desert they'll talk back

27:00to you

27:02i can't wait i want to party with you yeah well i i do like to party as a mexican

27:09you have to

27:11oh absolutely no because i i think we are all different travelers and i andreas i know exactly

27:17the type of you know i used to be like you just want to chill at the beach you know

27:21just have fun

27:21and have a good time and you know nighttime we go you know we go clubbing and and have an

27:25amazing time

27:26um and you can do that in morocco as well so it's trust morocco has a little bit for everybody

27:32uh that they can enjoy and and immerse themselves uh in that experience yeah it's always like it's

27:39you can do all of it you can do none of it but you still meet people right like even

27:43even when i go to

27:44like cancun would have gone to cancun and i stay at the resort and i meet people from brazil and

27:49we just

27:49there we're talking we're we're and we're you know i'm in my home country but i'm exchanging with

27:55someone from a different country anyway so it's it's it's all very it's all very nuanced yeah

28:00absolutely you're absolutely right and it goes back to people at the end of the day right that's

28:05the experience exactly when you're making these groups are you thinking about how they're going

28:09to interact with each other like are they compatible as a group or is that just something that well we're

28:16going today so you're signed up for today that's a really good question um the group that i that i

28:22went

28:22with uh last november through december they've traveled with each other for 30 years so they

28:28know each other it was done for you wow that's so awesome yeah so uh we did that i i

28:34a travel agent

28:36booked with me and that's her group and she organizes uh trips for them and tours you know globally so

28:42when they came to morocco um it took me a couple you know maybe a day or two to realize

28:48uh who's the nice and who's the funny and and so forth and everybody has different personalities so

28:54i have to talk to each one of them kind of a different way to you know uh you know

28:59so which

28:59is it was so much fun um and then the other part of the other groups that you just you

29:05know like the

29:06tour that we're doing in november is going to be maybe uh 12 people some may know each other they

29:11may

29:11not know each other which is again which is fun um in a way that you know they'll get to

29:16become

29:17friends afterwards at the end of the tour they become friends and you know the beginning it's

29:22going to a little bit look kind of awkward but it's that's what we do we facilitate uh we entertain

29:27and we make it fun of you know for everybody to enjoy um and immerse themselves in the experience

29:33and enjoy morocco along the way um excuse me and hopefully we can you know we can stay in contact

29:39afterwards uh for sure yeah i love that that's so good well i want us to close off thinking about

29:46we are all tourists at some point right we all go somewhere that we've never been and we're trying

29:51to learn so if you had uh an advice of a way to travel more responsive more responsibly what's one

29:59mindset shift that could make the biggest difference learn about the destination before you get to it

30:04um if if you go into mexico learn a little bit about the history a little bit about the language

30:09that really goes a long way um you know i don't speak spanish but i know in the hospitality i

30:15i worked

30:15at mexico restaurants you know um as a busboy as a server so i i got to learn the the

30:22kitchen spanish

30:23you know so which is very important so that spanish it it's helping me now my son his favorite food

30:29is

30:29mexican food so when we go to restaurants you know he's like hey can i get some chile con queso

30:38oh absolutely and it's like i'd have chicken cassadillas no no no tomatoes or something no

30:45vegetables so it's it's really important to learn you know just a few words uh that's really crucial

30:51and also have your expectations a little bit lower because you know we're very pampered in the us uh we

30:58take a lot of things for granted a lot of other countries are not as fortunate as us and and

31:03and

31:04be nice be nice when you're nice even when things go wrong you still you can still get a lot

31:09more than

31:10in a situation that you would normally get so that's what i i would you know say yeah allow yourself

31:17to

31:17learn and be immersed that's amazing well thank you so much for being with us today we're gonna stay on

31:23a

31:24bit longer to kind of go deeper into responsible tourism and learning a bit more about the

31:29communities that you work with in morocco is there anything well we're gonna leave all the links on

31:35tangeliclife.org on that blog post um and if you want to go to morocco book with destination morocco not

31:41sponsored just in love with it and thank you so much we'll catch you guys on the next one thank

31:49you so much

31:50thank you

Responsible Tourism in Morocco: Community, Culture & Sustainable Travel w/ Azdean | S04E08

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