Opening a Wellness Club or Studio in Morocco: A Guide for International Brands

Morocco welcomed a record 19.8 million visitors in 2025, 14 per cent more than the year before, and targets 26 million by 2030, the year it co-hosts the World Cup. International hotel groups are expanding there, and the country's cities still have few premium clubs, studios and recovery spaces. For a wellness brand, an opening follows eight steps. None of them replaces the advice of a licensed lawyer and accountant for your own case, but together they show where the time and the risk sit.

1. Choose the city and the customer

Casablanca is the business capital and the largest affluent market. Rabat adds the administration, the embassies and international organisations. Marrakech combines international visitors, second homes and a dense luxury hotel scene. Tangier is growing fast in the north, and Agadir and Taghazout serve the Atlantic coast and its surf. Each city has a different customer, price point and season: decide who you are opening for before you look at premises.

2. Decide the model

A company-owned opening, a franchise or master franchise with a local partner, or a club inside a hotel under a management agreement: each model changes the capital you commit, the control you keep and the partner you need. Many brands start with a local partner who knows the market and the landlords.

3. Set up the company

According to firms that handle incorporations, foreign investors can generally hold 100 per cent of a Moroccan company, the SARL is the most common form and has no legal minimum capital, and registration runs through the regional investment centres, which act as one-stop shops, in roughly two to three weeks. Bringing capital in foreign currency through the banking system matters for repatriating profits later. Morocco's 2022 investment charter, law 03-22, also sets out support schemes for some projects. Have a licensed lawyer and accountant confirm each point for your structure.

4. Secure the premises

Commercial leases are governed by law 49-16, in force since February 2017. It gives the tenant a protective status, including a right to renewal and an eviction indemnity, once the business is registered and has operated on the premises for at least two years; some premises, such as those in shopping malls, fall outside it. For a club or studio, also check the permitted use of the building, the floor loading, the ceiling height, the noise, the ventilation and the parking.

5. Permits and authorisations

The authorisations depend on the activity, the works and the city: works permits for the fit-out, opening and operating authorisations, and specific rules for anything that touches health or aesthetics. The files are prepared with licensed architects and advisors and filed with the competent authorities. Nobody can promise a permit in advance, and a good plan leaves time for it.

6. Design and works

Local registered architects, engineering firms and a delegated project manager who knows the trades are what keep a fit-out on time. Plan for imported equipment and its customs clearance, keep a buffer in the calendar, and have someone on site who reports to you in writing every week.

7. Team and training

Coaches, therapists and front-of-house staff who work to your standard are the real constraint. Recruit early, train to the brand, and plan for the languages your members speak: Arabic, French and English, and more in Marrakech.

8. Launch, or test first

An opening event, a founding-member programme and partnerships with hotels and brands give a new club its first season. If you are not ready to sign a lease, a pop-up week or a flagship event in Casablanca or Marrakech is the cheapest way to meet the market, the partners and the press first.

Where to start

Start with the city and the customer, then the model and the partner; the company, the premises and the works follow. Our market entry service can carry these steps with you in Morocco, from the first study to the launch week, by coordinating the licensed partners each step requires.