The Mozambican government is targeting the transformation of tourism into an industry capable of generating one billion dollars per year, while raising its contribution to between 7% and 8% of gross domestic product by 2029, through a combination of investment, infrastructure development, and measures to facilitate business and attract more visitors.
The strategy stems from the recognition that, despite the country's significant tourism potential, the sector currently generates only between $230 million and $250 million in annual revenue — a figure the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fredson Bacar, described as wholly inadequate in an interview with the Mozambique News Agency (AIM). "That is very little. It is very little," he said.
Bacar argued that Mozambique is capable of setting far more ambitious targets. "My dream is to not be afraid to set deliverables of one billion dollars per year," he said, underscoring the need to substantially scale up the sector's revenue generation.
The government's target also includes raising tourism's share of GDP to between 7% and 8% by 2029. The sector's current contribution, however, varies depending on the methodology used to measure its economic impact.
According to Bacar, the Tourism Satellite Account — calculated on the basis of the Tourist Expenditure Survey (Indeste) — is expected to serve as the primary instrument for measuring the sector's impact. The tool seeks to capture the full tourism value chain, including transport, fuel, accommodation, food and beverage, retail, and visitor activities.
The survey is conducted four times a year at air and land border posts by a multisectoral team involving institutions including the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Mozambique. The most recent exercise, carried out in 2024, indicated that tourism's contribution was approaching 4% of GDP.
This figure contrasts with the reading derived from the Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE), which focuses primarily on accommodation and food service sectors and places tourism's contribution at approximately 1% to 1.5%, or below. Bacar argued that this narrower methodology may underestimate the true weight of tourism activity in the economy.
Signs of growth are already visible in visitor numbers. In 2025, Mozambique recorded 1,134,521 tourist arrivals, representing a 7.9% increase compared with 2024. The sector currently comprises more than 3,000 tourist accommodation establishments, approximately 6,000 food and beverage outlets, and more than 450 travel agencies, employing in excess of 80,000 workers.
Infrastructure and Financing at the Core of the Strategy
To enhance Mozambique's attractiveness to tourists and investors, the government intends to address one of the sector's principal constraints: the inadequacy of infrastructure at key tourism destinations. Bacar argued that the priority must be to create enabling conditions for the industry, encompassing both basic infrastructure and a supportive legal framework.
"It is not about building tourism itself, but about creating the infrastructural conditions — not only basic supporting infrastructure, but also in terms of legislation," he said. Among the investments announced is a hotel project by AMAN — a Swiss-headquartered ultra-luxury hospitality group — in Massingir, Gaza province, valued at $140 million, and another by Singita — a South African luxury ecotourism and hospitality brand — in Carilane, Vilankulo, Inhambane province, valued at $102 million.
According to Bacar, the Vilankulo project already has a signed contract, clearance from the Administrative Court, and a public deed, and is currently in the equipment mobilisation phase. A further 148 projects have been approved, with a combined value of just over one billion meticais.
The government's strategy also envisages concentrating efforts on priority tourism destinations defined in 2016 — namely Maputo, Gorongosa, Inhambane, Quirimbas, and Niassa — alongside programmes such as Mais Oportunidades and Conecta Negócios, both financed by the World Bank, which target financing, business capacity-building, infrastructure, and the internationalisation of Mozambican tourism.
Mais Oportunidades Strengthens Financing and Investment in Tourism
According to Helsio Azevedo, Tourism Specialist at the Mais Oportunidades Technical Assistance Unit, the project makes credit lines available through a Mutual Guarantee Fund and provides grants to companies in the central and southern provinces for business expansion, job creation, marketing, and access to new markets. The eighth round of the Catalytic Fund for Innovation and Demonstration (FCID) has $17 million available to finance companies in Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala, Manica, and Zambézia provinces.
The project also plans to train 1,250 businesses in areas including management, marketing, accounting, financial organisation, sales, service delivery, and internationalisation. In Inhambane — considered one of the country's principal tourism zones — last-mile interventions are planned, including improvements along several kilometres of coastline and rehabilitation of infrastructure to strengthen leisure tourism and safety.
The strategy could be expanded through MozTurism, a programme that may secure World Bank financing from 2027 if approved. Azevedo explained that the programme could fund structural interventions, integrate small businesses into tourism value chains, and attract private investment — including the strengthening of the Higher School of Hospitality and Tourism of Inhambane through an entrepreneurship and training centre.
The project also includes the institutional strengthening of the National Agency for Tourism Development and Investment (Adintur), with the objective of transforming the body into an effective instrument for promoting domestic tourism. The World Bank-supported projects are further linked to the development of a National Tourism Strategy and to the recently approved Business Tourism Strategy (MICE), an instrument expected to contribute to capturing more than $300 million in additional revenue.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/27/negocios/turismo/executivo-projecta-receitas-do-turismo-acima-de-mil-milhoes-de-dolares-por-ano/
