With tourism “practically non-existent”, losses in Mozambique amount to US$30M per month – Listen

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With tourism “practically non-existent”, losses in Mozambique amount to US$30M per month – Listen

4:13 CAT | 29 Apr 2020

Photo: Voa Portugues

Tourism in Mozambique is practically non-existent and forecasts are very bleak. According to the Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators of Mozambique (AVITUM), losses are in the order of US$30 million per month.

Not even the big hotels are being spared, with even benchmark establishments in the capital of the country closing their doors and laying off staff.

But the drama is being experienced mainly in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Inhambane, Sofala and Maputo.

Hotel Cardoso

Mariushc — *Marius Wolmarans, general manager of Hotel Cardoso*

Built about 100 years ago and located a few metres from the Presidential Palace, Cardoso is one of the oldest and most emblematic hotels in the Mozambican capital. But, without customers and with mounting losses, it has temporarily closed its doors.

“Yes, I don’t want to share the exact details, but the truth is, we had to close because the daily losses are huge. It takes about US$6,000 a day to keep a business like this running, and it makes no sense to stay open if we don’t have any revenue,” Wolmarans says. He hopes “everything will go back to normal” soon.

Hotel Terminus

Luis.ht_ — *Luís Malagissa, manager of Hotel Terminus*

The situation is the same at the Terminus, another landmark hotel.

Situated in one of Maputo’s grandest districts, it has 92 workers and 80 rooms, but at the moment, has only four guests.

“Our situation is completely pitiful,” manager Luís Malagissa says. They haven’t closed their doors yet, although, with little or no revenue, it is very much on the cards.

Malaguissa admits that the hotel is losing money. “It is a lot. These are very high numbers. I don’t want to specify, but it’s a very large amount. As you can imagine, we have 80 rooms with matching services: a restaurant, kitchen, gym, conference rooms, bar, swimming pool… Maintaining all this is very costly,” he explains.

Layoffs ahead?

Ndicamassinga.vpt_ — Ndiça Massinga, adviser to the Minister of Culture and Tourism

At national level, Ndiça Massinga, adviser to the Minister of Culture and Tourism, says that many hotel units have already closed their doors.

”We now have 155 tourist developments closed, plus 484 food and beverage establishments, 12 travel agencies, and 45 dance halls. Casinos and gambling rooms are also closed. Of the 68,000 workers in the culture and tourism sectors, 3,500 are seeing their jobs at risk,” Massinga enumerates.

AVITUM speaks out

Joaodasneves.voapt_ — *João das Neves, secretary general of the Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators of Mozambique*

João das Neves, secretary-general of AVITUM, the Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators of Mozambique, says that the sector is registering monthly losses in the order of US$30 million, and that the impact will be devastating if this continues.

“The tourism sector currently employs 61,000 workers, and I would risk saying that, of these, about half are on the verge of being made redundant in the next 90 days, or at least going on shorter hours and earning less. This is inevitable,” he warns.

In 2019, Mozambique saw around 1. 9 million tourists arrive, and earned about US$200 million in the tourism and culture sector. The forecast for this year was to welcome more than 2. 10 million tourists.

Adviser Ndiça Massinga concedes that this goal will not be achieved, and acknowledges that, for now, revenue is practically zero.

Source: Voa Portugues