Essaouira bed and breakfast, Morocco
How Essaouira bed and breakfast, Morocco makes a difference
Environment
In renovating and maintaining Dar 91 we use exclusively local builders and craftsmen, providing much-needed employment as well as many mutual linguistic and cultural learning opportunities. We have tried particularly to work with young people – many of whom would otherwise struggle to find jobs - and pay good rates. In furnishing the house we source many fixtures and fittings in junk markets, as a way of recycling resources; and we commission local craftspeople to mend and restore pieces of furniture and other design elements.
It is important for us to minimise the potential negative impacts of tourism on Essaouira, so we offer suggestions for guests on how to deal with issues around dress, poverty, alcohol and shopping/haggling – and try to encourage engagement with Moroccan culture in positive ways.
The house has showers rather than baths so as to minimise water usage, and we ask our guests to conserve water and energy and minimise their environmental impact in other ways, for example by using alternatives to the black plastic bags which are given away all-too-freely by Moroccan shopkeepers.
We also encourage the use of public transport wherever possible.
Community
Unlike many overseas property owners in Morocco, we employ our staff on contract, and pay social services contributions for them as well as paying good wages. Dar 91 is set up as a Moroccan company and we pay tax on all profits generated.
We are strongly committed to sustainable tourism and are passionate about the need for holiday providers, especially in developing countries – and their guests – to do what they can to help the local community wherever possible. Since we opened in 2006 we have given a minimum of 10% of our profits to local good causes.
In 2012 we set up our own charity, Project 91, to help young people in Essaouira improve their job prospects, and continue to give 10% of all profits from Dar 91 to it. We raise money for Project 91 in a variety of ways, including via our own campaign, Leave Your Wardrobe in Morocco, through which our and others' guests can donate unwanted clothes and other items for sale in the Project 91 shop, with 100% of the profits going to the charity.
Projects funded by Project 91 so far include free English lessons for local young people, two funded placements at hairdressing school, and support for various local families struggling to continue funding their children through secondary school. We also contribute towards a dental hygiene project in the countryside near Essaouira.
Essaouira bed and breakfast, Morocco
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