El Jadida is being sold to British travelers as Morocco’s answer to Dubai. In fresh travel coverage, the Moroccan Atlantic coastal city is described as the “new Dubai,” a place three hours from London where luxury comes without the crush of big-name resort crowds.

That pitch is landing because El Jadida offers a rare mix: a UNESCO World Heritage setting, 300 days of sun a year and a shoreline that sits within easy reach of UK holidaymakers looking for something upscale but less obvious. The city’s citadel walls also hold a mosque, a synagogue and a Catholic church within meters of one another, a reminder that the draw is not only the beach but the setting itself.

The focus for many visitors is Mazagan Beach and Golf Resort, which opened in 2009 and stretches across 250 acres. Built at a cost of more than £275million, it has 500 rooms and suites, seven kilometers of coastline, 15 restaurants and bars, two pools and an 18-hole course designed by Gary Player. A recent guest was Paloma Faith, while Lindsay Lohan and Naomi Campbell attended the opening, giving the resort a celebrity edge that has helped fix it in the luxury travel conversation.

What makes the sales pitch work is also what raises the obvious question. The resort is presented as spacious and indulgent, yet it is being marketed to visitors as luxury at half price and with none of the crowds. That contrast is the point: El Jadida is not trying to match Dubai’s scale, but to offer the same sense of escape with a lighter bill and a quieter shoreline.

For UK travelers, the practical lure is simple. Breakfast is included with ten stations to choose from, and the resort also offers half-board and all-inclusive packages, making the cost easier to pin down than the destination’s glossy image suggests. The open question now is how much of that promise translates into a real trip for British visitors, and whether El Jadida can stay a hidden-value escape once more travelers catch on.