Mozambique: Foreign tourists cancel all reservations in Vilankulo over pandemic

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Mozambique: Foreign tourists cancel all reservations in Vilankulo over pandemic

3:33 CAT | 16 Mar 2020

File photo: O País

Inhambane is one of the most attractive destinations in Mozambique and receives an average of 200,000 tourists per year. But the coronavirus pandemic could change that scenario this year.

In Vilankulo, for example, the pandemic has meant foreign tourists cancelling nearly all reservations from Easter to December.

The President of the Tourism Association in Vilankulo, Yassin Amuji, told ‘O Pais’ that cancellations started in a small way at the beginning of February, but had skyrocketed in the last 24 hours, reducing occupancy rates from 70 to 10 to 20 percent.

Cancellations will cause losses to tour operators which will affect the entire value chain.

Yassin Amuji explains that tourists are demanding that amounts paid for accommodation be refunded.

“As it is a matter of force majeure, tour operators will have to return the money – money that not everyone has, since they may have used it to invest in hotel services,” he explained.

Despite the crisis, Yassin Amuji says this is not the time for despair, and sees the situation as an opportunity to encourage domestic tourism.

“Mozambicans cannot go to America, Europe or Asia, so the solution will be for them to travel internally. We need to capitalise on this, since there is great potential to be explored,” Amuji says.

Most of the tourists who travel to Inhambane are from European countries and the United States of America, regions with confirmed cases of Covid-19.

By Hugo Firmino

Source: O País