Maputo — Mozambique's Minister of Tourism, Fernando Sumbana, has announced that, with the recent approval of a new set of statutes, the government's Tourism Fund (FUTUR) will become a more active and dynamic body.
Sumbana said that, under the new statutes, FUTUR can look for sources of funding other than the state budget. The Fund now has greater autonomy, which will allow it to enter into "partnerships with other instruments supporting Mozambican businesses in the tourism area".
Sumbana hoped that FUTUR's new ability to seek additional funds to support tourist businesses would make the Mozambican tourism sector "more attractive and more developed".
"In the past, the Fund used to work with very small amounts of money - about 150 million meticais (about 6,300 US dollars) to support each of the undertakings, and with that sort of money you can't develop large scale infrastructures", he said.
But now the Fund can work with other institutions. "For instance, it can enter into association with the Environment Fund, or with the National Social Security Institute (INSS) to support the tourism industry", said Sumbana. This change is justified by the growing importance of tourism in the Mozambican economy. "We have seen hotels being opened from the Rovuma to the Maputo (the rivers marking the northern and southern boundaries of the country), and this year we will be opening a whole series of new establishments", declared the Minister. "This shows the confidence of the investors, and so we need flexible instruments to support the tourism industry".
Last year about 400,000 tourists passed through Mozambique, and the number of tourist visits is growing by about 10 per cent a year. Confirmed annual revenue to the country from these tourists is about 50 million dollars.
That, however, only covers expenditure in hotels. The real gain to the country, when one considers all tourist purchases made outside hotels, is much larger, Sumbana added.
"We know about revenue arising from stays in hotels", he said. "But tourism involves much more than this. Indeed, revenue from hotel beds is the smaller part".
Sumbana told AIM that a Marketing Commission has recently been set up, involving people from both private and public sectors in areas that are key to tourist activity - hotels, conservation areas, travel agencies, rent-a-car firms and the like.
The task of this new body is to advise the government on the activities and initiatives it should take to develop Mozambican tourism. Sumbana thought this commission was indicative of the government's commitment to work with the private sector to bring more tourists to the country.
