Western Sahara in German travel guides

2023-08-26 12:19:50

Western Sahara, road with sand drifts near Tarfaya Image: LAIF

German travel guides consider Western Sahara to be part of Morocco. This is more than embarrassing – because those who sell travel guides for a fee have a duty to provide information

Can one imagine a reputable travel guide that would present Crimea as Russian or as a legitimate part of Russia? No? But leaving Western Sahara to the occupiers? Occurs in the best houses.

The area, almost as big as Italy, lies on the Atlantic between Morocco and Mauritania and was annexed by Morocco in 1975, in violation of international law. The largest German travel publishing group MairDumont GmbH & Co. KG, which also includes the publishing house Karl Baedeker, Marco Polo, the German editions of Lonely Planet and many other brands, nevertheless treats it as a matter of course in several travel guides as part of the kingdom. Western Sahara, as one learns from these books, “is fundamentally different from the rest of the country.” The city of Laayoune has “in the meantime developed into one of the most modern Moroccan metropolises in some sectors of the upper town”. The Lagoon of Dakhla: “A paradise for ornithologists, water sports enthusiasts and anglers, but above all for kite surfers and hip visitors to Morocco.”