This page defines the terms. If you only want to check one agency, go straight to how to check a Moroccan Umrah agency's licence and come back here when a word on the paperwork is unclear.
What are ODV and DV licences?
They are the only two licence types an agency can hold. ODV is short for organisateur-distributeur de voyages, Travel Organiser-Distributor. DV is short for distributeur de voyages, Travel Distributor. Under Law 11-16, no travel agency may open without a licence1.
The names describe two trades. An organiser-distributor puts trips together and sells them; a distributor sells. The official page we rely on gives the two names but does not list, activity by activity, what each licence covers. We therefore do not tell you that one type may or may not sell an Umrah.
What the distinction changes for you is one question to ask at the counter or by message:
- “Do you organise this Umrah yourselves?”
- “If not, which agency organises it, and under what name is it listed?”
If a second agency is involved, check it with the same method as the first. The contract should tell you who is responsible for what, and the receipt should name the company you actually paid.
In the ministry's directory, the licensed agencies appear in lists by licence type, ODV and DV2. When you search for an agency, look in both lists before concluding that it is missing.
What is the travel-agent law?
Law 11-16 is the law regulating the travel-agent profession in Morocco, promulgated by Dahir 1-18-107 of 9 January 2019, and its implementing decree is Decree 2.21.803. A dahir is the royal decree that brings a law into force; the implementing decree sets out how the law is applied.
The full text, in French, is published on the Ministry of Justice's legal portal as the dahir promulgating the law. The Ministry of Tourism summarises the licensing side on its page for travel agents.
For a buyer, three points in the sources matter most:
- an agency has no right to open without a licence1;
- the law allows agencies to be sanctioned5;
- according to EcoActu, it added rules for online and distance selling4.
That last point concerns anyone booking from abroad or through a website. We have not read the detail of those rules in an official source, so we do not summarise them.
What changed from the old law?
According to EcoActu, Law 11-16 repealed Law 31-96, gave existing agencies 24 months to come into line, and created graduated licences according to activity and responsibility, with rules for online and distance selling4. According to EcoActu, the exact categories of these graduated licences are not known4.
Put simply, the earlier framework is gone, and agencies that already existed had a transition period to adapt. Two consequences are worth keeping in mind:
- Old documents can mention the old law. A certificate, a framed licence on the office wall or a press article about sanctions can refer to the previous text. That does not prove anything about today. The directory does.
- A licence is not permanent. The regional services can withdraw it1. And according to H24info, an agency that had failed to renew its licence was no longer on the official list6. Search again before every payment, not only before the first one.
Who grants and withdraws a licence?
Applications are filed online and handled by the Tourism department's regional (deconcentrated) services, which also handle withdrawals1. In other words, the same administration that grants a licence can take it back.
Law 11-16 allows agencies to be sanctioned5. The decisions reported in the press show what that means in practice. According to Bladi, the ministry sanctioned 15 agencies in 2022 under the old Law 31-96, with penalties ranging from a warning to permanent withdrawal of the licence7. We have not read, in an official text, the list of penalties that Law 11-16 itself provides5, so we do not draw one up. Which sanctions were ordered in past seasons, and after which complaints, is recorded with sources in the Morocco Umrah fraud log.
If you have a dispute with a licensed agency, the licence also tells you which administration oversees it. The routes, in the order to try them, are in complaint against a Moroccan travel agency: your options.
And if you are reading this from abroad because your parents are about to book in Morocco, the definitions on this page are all you need to follow the remote check for sons and daughters.
Still unclear
- What each licence type covers in detail, and whether a Travel Distributor may sell an Umrah organised by someone else: the official page we read gives the two names only.
- The graduated categories created by the reform: according to EcoActu, the exact categories are not known4.
- The conditions to obtain a licence (financial cover, qualifications, premises): we have no official source on them yet.
- Whether past sanctions or withdrawals are visible in the directory.
- Whether an official English translation of the law or of its decree exists.
What should you do with these definitions?
Use them to read the agency's paperwork, then go back to the directory. A licence type on a contract is a claim; the ministry's list is the check. The step-by-step method is in how to check a Moroccan Umrah agency's licence.