Mozambique hotels reclassified

The Mozambican Ministry of Tourism is to submit to the`government in April a draft set of regulations to reclassify tourist establishments. The reason for this move is that some hotels do not deserve their current classification: certain hotels are classed as five star, but the quality of their service merits only three stars.

"A five star hotel must have a certain standard, equal everywhere across the world, and we in Mozambique have some tourist establishments with infrastructures and quality of service that do not satisfy the requirements for hotels of this class", Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana told AIM.

After the approval of the regulations, inspection will be undertaken "and the owner of any tourist establishment found not to have the requirements fixed by the regulations will have two options: either he can reduce the number of stars, or he can sign a pledge with the Tourism Ministry, promising to bring the level of services up to the current number of stars in a very short period of time. This is fundamental for us", he said. Sumbana explained that his ministry's main challenge now is to improve the quality of tourism, a sector that contributed 2.5 per cent of the country's GDP in 2006, compared with 0.9 per cent six years ago. The drive to improve quality, he said, was not simply because of tourism's significant contribution to GDP, but also because it provides employment for thousands of people. Sumbana added that, for 2006, his ministry had estimated a contribution of 126 million US dollars to the balance of payments, but the sector surpassed this figure, producing 144 million US dollars (in 2001, the figure was just 32 million dollars).

The government estimates that the tourism sector has created about 30,000 jobs during the last few years. One of the actions that helped enhance the tourism sector in Mozambique was the abolition of visa requirements between Mozambique and several other southern African countries, and the decision to allow visitors from elsewhere to buy their visas at the border, rather then send their passports to Mozambican embassies or consulates. "This changed completely the image people had about Mozambique in terms of entry facilities and it is allowing us to develop our tourism on a scale that allows the country to earn more", said Sumbana.

However, he acknowledged that there are still constraints to a full development of tourism, including a shortage of international air links. Currently, the only intercontinental flights from Mozambique go to the former colonial power, Portugal. Travellers to or from the rest of Europe, Asia or the Americas must change plane either in Johannesburg or Nairobi. 

12 February 2007