Mozambique received nine cruise ships in nine months with almost 4,500 tourists on board

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Mozambique received nine cruise ships in nine months with almost 4,500 tourists on board

3:02 CAT | 15 Nov 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Courtesy of Southampton Cruise Centre ]

Mozambique received nine cruise ships carrying almost 4,500 tourists this year, mainly in Maputo and MOSTLY coming from Asian and European countries, according to data from the Mozambican government that Lusa had access to today.

According to a budget execution report for the first nine months of the year, cruise ships stopping in Mozambique carried 4,492 passengers.

Of the 4,492, “2,069 disembarked and visited the tourist attractions and enjoyed the typical cuisine”, the report states.

It adds that, in the same period, still in the tourism sector, 157 businesses opened in the country, of which 46 provided accommodation, 83 food and beverage, and 28 travel agency services.

These figures are from before the post-election period in the country, with widespread protests and strikes since October 21.

This week, Mozambican businesspeople warned of the cancellation of bookings and a reduction in “confidence” among tourists, as a result of the strikes and protests against the results announced in the general elections on October 9.

“The situation with the protests is bad for the country, for the economy and for tourism in particular, because bookings are being cancelled completely and the confidence index of tourists is affected,” Muhammad Abdullah, head of the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism department at the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), told Lusa.

Abdullah said it was “premature” to talk about figures for losses due to the protests, but added that marketing efforts to restore tourist confidence would be necessary.

“In the case of tourism, it is the tourist confidence index that drops and this remains for some time until stability is felt and this information has an impact across borders. Only then will they want to come to Mozambique,” he warned .

Before the seven-day strikes and demonstrations, which ended on November 7, candidate Venâncio Mondlane had called for marches on October 21, 24 and 25, which led Mozambican businesspeople to estimate losses of 3 billion meticais (€43.2 million) on October 30, and estimate that the destruction and looting had left 1,200 people unemployed.

“We had sabotage, vandalism, break-ins of private and commercial establishments and even production facilities (…) around 33,” which caused “financial losses estimated at around 3 billion meticais. The level of vandalism at some establishments is such that they will not be able to operate again,” CTA president Agostinho Vuma said.

Meanwhile, Venâncio Mondlane called for another three-day period of strikes and demonstrations to contest the election results, which ends his Friday, promising new phases.

On October 24, the announcement by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) of Mozambique of the results of the October 9 elections, awarding victory to Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the presidential election, with 70.67% of the votes, triggered popular protests, called by the opposition candidate Venâncio Mondlane.

According to the CNE, Mondlane came in second place, with 20.32%, but he stated that he did not recognize the results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, which has no deadline for this purpose and is still analyzing the dispute.

Source: Lusa