Our Project with Beni Mellal Tourism

By Katie Hollinshead

I first connected with the Beni Mellal Tourism team at World Travel Market in London in 2024. It started as a fairly standard tourism conversation, until I mentioned three things:

1. I'm a travel and tourism professional.
2. I’m a skydiver.
3. I'm an Artist.

That was the moment that a collaboration with Visit Morocco and Beni Mellal Tourism seemed like it was meant to be.

I was introduced to Beni Mellal, its drop zone, and the idea of bringing UK skydivers to a destination that hasn’t been on the radar. From that point, the question became simple:

Could this work?

Why Beni Mellal?

From the outside, the destination has clear potential.

But in travel, potential means nothing unless it works in reality. Not just on paper.

So we came here to answer one very specific question:

Can Beni Mellal become a viable destination for UK skydivers? And if it is, then can we tell it's story in a way that makes it engaging and unforgettable?

To answer that properly, we needed more than one perspective.

So we brought both travel professionals, skydivers and creatives into the room.

What Actually Matters 

When assessing a destination for adventure travel, the questions are rarely glamorous. But they are critical.

• How easy is it to get here?

• Do flights and transfers actually work in practice?

• Are airports familiar with specialist equipment like rigs, cameras, AADs?

• Is there a language barrier for English-speaking groups?

• What is the level of medical access and how close is hospital support?

• Are there unexpected documentation requirements?

• What are the real costs of jumping?

• What is actually allowed at the drop zone?

And one of the most overlooked questions:

What happens when you’re not jumping?

Because skydiving is weather dependent. A strong destination needs depth beyond the drop zone.

These aren’t criticisms.
They’re the due diligence that decides whether a destination thrives, or quietly disappears.

The Part Most Destinations Get Wrong

Here’s the truth:

People don’t remember statistics.
They don’t remember aircraft types.
They barely remember price lists.

They remember how a place made them feel.

This is especially true in adventure travel.

People aren’t chasing luxury.
They’re chasing experience, story, and atmosphere.

And so far, what we’ve experienced in Beni Mellal is something far more powerful than perfect conditions:

Genuine warmth and openness.

Why Storytelling Changes Everything

If you look at how most skydiving destinations promote themselves, it’s almost always the same:

Perfect blue skies.
Impressive freefall shots.
High-performance flying.

But the reality is, the sky looks the same everywhere.

That doesn’t tell you anything about the place.

What people actually want to know is:

• Who will I meet there?

• What does it feel like on the ground?

• What happens before the jump?

• What happens after it?

That’s why we approached this differently.

We brought filmmaker Henry with us. Someone who has worked with major adventure brands, not to capture just the jump, but the full experience around it.

Because a drone shot might be beautiful.
But it doesn’t tell the story on its own.

The Stunt Artists Approach

There’s a final layer to this project that matters deeply to me.

So many familiarisation trips follow the same pattern:

You visit.
You capture content.
You post.
And then it ends.

The impact stays with the people who were there.

Through The Stunt Artists, we take that further.

Because I’m not only working in travel. I’m also an artist.

Back in the UK, I create art exhibitions inspired by the places we visit. Not just what they look like, but:

• The people

• The landscape

• The atmosphere

• The feeling they leave behind

This work reaches a completely different audience.

People who are not being sold to.
People who encounter a destination through curiosity and emotion, not a sales pitch.

And that’s where something powerful happens.

That’s how places become memorable.

What Happens Next

This trip wasn’t about selling Beni Mellal.

It was about understanding it.

Testing it.
Experiencing it properly.
And asking the right questions.

What comes next is where the real work begins:

• Shaping how this destination is positioned for the UK market

• Building experiences that actually work for skydivers

• Telling a story that goes far beyond the drop zone

Because if this is done right, Beni Mellal doesn’t just become another place to jump.

It becomes a place people feel connected to.

Thank You

A huge thank you to the Beni Mellal Tourism Board for inviting us and trusting us with this exploration.

We’re genuinely excited, not just about the potential of this destination for the UK adventure market, but about telling its story in a way that makes it unforgettable.

See the work we create from this project for yourself in our event on 13th June 2026.
Check out creative storytelling services here.

Katie Hollinshead
Artist & Creative Director