Tourism earned 221 million dollars over the last year

Maputo, 9 Aug (AIM) – The Mozambican tourism sector earned, over the past year, about 221 million dollars, contributing to 4.02 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi revealed these figures on Thursday, at the opening ceremony of the 10th edition of the International Tourism Fair (FIKANI), a four-day event taking place in Maputo under the slogan “Tourism, a Tool for Economic Development and Social Transformation.”

According to Nyusi, visits to national parks and reserves brought in 227 million meticais (3.5 million dollars at the current exchange rate) and 20 percent of this amount was allocated to local communities.

“The tourism sector has the potential to do much more”, he said, “and, for this reason, tour operators must invest in the quality of infrastructures and in their professionals in order to attract more tourists to Mozambique”.

However, the President recalled that the tourism sector, in recent years, suffered major negative impacts as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and extreme weather events, such as Cyclones Idai and Guambe, which hit the central province of Sofala, causing the death of over 700 people and the displacement of 420,000 others, as well as destroying both public and private property.

He also said that the extreme violence carried out by the Islamist terrorists in some parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado has been negatively affecting the tourism sector.

Nonetheless, he claimed that “during the five-year period 2020-2024, 1,088 developments came into operation, including hotels and other accommodation units, catering and beverage establishments and travel agencies, contributing to the creation of over 14,000 jobs”.

Nyusi encouraged businesses to be more dynamic in creating synergies, investing more funds in the quality of services that they offer.

“We must always be ahead of the game and believe in ourselves”, he said “We have the capacity to do this, with a view to implementing innovative projects that can capitalize on synergies between natural conditions and intangible values in the same space and place”.

Nyusi said that 870,830 foreigners visited Mozambique in 2023. 87 per cent of them came from the African continent, six per cent from Europe, and 4.5 per cent from Asia.

(AIM)

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