“NORMALIZATION WITHOUT NORMALIZATION”: THE ROLE OF TOURISM IN PROMOTING MOROCCAN–ISRAELI RELATIONS

Although the literature on the relationship between tourism and peace is extensive, these studies have not been focused on the context of Morocco–Israel relations. Additionally, although many studies examined tourism’s role as a peacemaker or peacekeeper, little focus has been given to tourism as a tool for promoting normalization between governments during periods without official relations. To address this theoretical gap, this study examined the role of tourism in promoting “normalization without normalization”—the period without official relations between Israel and Morocco, from 2000 to 2020. The results show that tourism’s role in making peace between Israel and Morocco was limited but played a major role in strengthening and stabilizing unofficial relations through emotional campaign, pilgrimages, and economic growth. Thus, the empirical analysis validates the theoretical concept that tourism, as a peacekeeper, helped to nurture a positive unofficial relation between Israel and Morocco.