Question 1: This Ministry is relatively young. In fact tourism use to be under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Could you explain to us why and when was taken the decision to create a new Ministry fully dedicated to tourism?

Answer 1: The government took the decision of setting up a Ministry of tourism in January 2000. And the reasons were that after looking at all potentiality that we have got here in the country and having the peace process that came in 1992 there was an understanding that we should try to revitalize this important industry that is tourism. Mozambique has got very good resources for tourism, we have people that are prepared to do tourism because they are friendly people, they like visitors, they like to interact with visitors, and they like to understand the foreign cultures as well. Mozambicans also like to show what they have got, to talk about their culture, to talk about their experiences and I think this is very important for the development of the tourism. The other reason that pushed us to focus strongly on tourism and consider it as an important industries for the country's economic and social development is because of the multiplying effect of the industry. Especially if we are looking at a country like Mozambique where we are trying to improve the standard of living of people and trying to equalize the distribution of revenues. Tourism is one of the industries that can naturally spread all the benefits to whole segments of the society. So this is the main reason why the government created a separate Ministry for Tourism.

Question 2: Could you explain in a few words the Mozambican National Tourism Policy?

Answer 2: The Mozambican Tourism Policy has identified potentialities for the development of tourism in Mozambique as basically being sand, sun and beach because we have got a very long cost line of about 2700 Km where you can find probably the most beautiful beaches of Southern Africa. In Mozambique we have many places where you really get the feeling that this earth still has non-polluted natural resources. At the same time we have got a wide variety of wide life and for international tourism our wild life is very attractive specially the big five. Combining the big fauna with the sea is the future of our tourism sector. You have many palaces in Mozambique where being at the same place in less that half an hour you have the experience of the sea but you can go and have the experience of wild life with the big five.

Question 3: Could you explain to our readers what exactly is the big five?

Answer 3: The big five basically are lions, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephants. We call this big five because they are seen as the most important species that we have got in wild life especially for foreign tourists. Additionally from the animals and the landscape, you can find in Mozambique a very extent cultural background. Indeed we have traditional African cultures but as well many others that have interacted very strongly with Mozambique. There are Asia backgrounds as well as Arabic. More recently we had European cultures that interacted with our country such as the Portuguese and British cultures. Thus Mozambique has lots to offers and the tourist can enjoy.

Question 4: What have been the most important achievements since the creation the creation of the Ministry that you would like to highlight?

Answer 4: First I would like to highlight the successful revision of the tourism policy that, in addition to other dimensions, is putting a lot of emphasis on the development of training because the human factor is one of the most important elements for tourism, the development of infrastructures, and the development of international marketing of the potentiality that we have got here. We are very proud also of the effective structuring of the Ministry itself, at a central basis as well as at the provincial level.

Additionally we have put in place education programs for the people of Mozambique about the importance of tourism. In fact t is very important on one side to do the development of business but it is important that any tourist that comes has the feeling that every one appreciates his arrival. So the only way we could do that was to use radio, television, and various segments of the society, business people and the community themselves, and explain them the importance of tourism. And then we have been working with the different institutions for training. We have sent people abroad for additional training and we have worked with the universities of Mozambique to establish degrees in tourism management for Mozambicans. We have a faculty of Hotels and Tourism in Inhambane province, and we have another faculty for Hotel management in Cabo Delgado. But we are also having the private universities in Maputo training for tourism development. We are working with the Ministry of Education.
This is an achievement we have made in the last three years because we had a constant communication with the various institutions and now the fruits are coming and now we are getting there.

We also did a lot of promotion using the main international events like the tourism fairs in Portugal with BTL "Bolsa de Turismo de Lisboa", in Germany with "ITB" and in Milan just to name a few. We are involved in world travel market and we had established our own tourism fair in Maputo called "Bolsa De Turismo de Maputo" which has just gone through its second year of existence. We are also involved in Spain with FITUR, "Feria Internacional do Turismo de España". So these are part of the achievements that we had in terms of promotion.

And the other thing that we have done is to become involved with the international institutions such as the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and with them we are trying to establish similar procedures and policies. We actively look at the main guidelines that we get from the interaction with the World Tourism Organization. For example, the code of ethics that has been passed by the WTO, a significant part of its content has already been incorporated in our policy and is going to be incorporated in our law that I hope that will be passed some time in 2003.

But at the same time we have motivated many investors. So in the most remote places in Mozambique you will see lodges, Hotels. In fact we have 5 stars hotel in Cabo Delgado. We are developing the islands, Kirimba archipelagos that are a protected area today. We have many development programs in place for the development of the islands. If you go further down from north you will see that in Nampula province there are many developments with Ilha de Moçambique, which was the first capital of Mozambique. This island is the place were Vasco da Gama first landed. And in other province in the interior, the reserves and parks are also being developed and we are just starting with a new management system were we are going to have public and private partnership. So this means that we are all going to be involved in the management of the parks and reserves, private-public and the community.

Question 5: You mentioned the efforts in the international marketing. Is there any specific institution in charge of this, and what is its objective?

Answer 5: FUTUR, the Fundo Nacional do Turismo, is in charge of promoting Mozambique as a tourism destination. We have also established a Marketing Committee that involves the private sector and public sector. The latter is composed of several Ministries. In fact we have representative of the Ministry of Culture, representative of the Ministry of Transports and Communication and representative of the Ministry of Agriculture.

On the side of the private sector, we have artists, we hotels, associations related to travel agencies. So we are trying to put all together there and we, together are selling internationally the possibilities that we have got in Mozambique. So, there is a common interest amongst all these players. On one side there is the government trying to promote the image of the country but at the same time there are businessmen promoting their business.

Question 6: "Land of Contrast". What is the message you are trying to send through this qualification?

Answer 6: We are trying to say that you will see in our country a lot of contrast. In terms of landscape we have very big plains and nice mountains. We have in Macaneta beaches with very big waves and then we have Bilene were the sea is calm. In terms of culture we have a lot of contrast. On the one hand we have people with a complete European style, and on the other hand we have people with strong African style. Some people have an Asian culture and others an Indian culture. In fact we have a very big mix of people with different cultures living all together. So Mozambique is a land of contrast but at the same time all this contrast is part of the same harmonized body.

Question 7: Thus Mozambique is actively working to increase tourism. What has been the evolution over the last 3 years? What would you say are the most interesting figures we should talk about?

Answer 7: First let us talk about the number of tourists that came to the country. Not to long ago there were almost no tourists that came to Mozambique but today we have reached more then 400,000 tourists per year and this is growing.
Even taking into consideration the stage of the development of infrastructure, there are growing numbers in tourism. But if you go and look at the statistics in terms of revenues, the figures are not 100% shown because we are now only getting information about the people that go to hotels. Tourism is difficult to monitor as tourists spend money is various places, road shops, restaurants, markets, and others. Our statistic system is still being developed. In fact we are working with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) to support us and develop a good statistic system that can show us the chain impact of the tourism sector on the global economy. An increase in tourism will have a positive impact on agriculture, as more people need to eat. It will also have an impact on construction as more hotels are constructed. With the hotels there will be more work for taxi drivers. Therefore what we are trying to obtain now with the help of the WTO are the figures that demonstrate all these links between tourism and the different sectors of the economy. When does figures will be available we will be able to effectively study the impact tourism has on the country. Hopefully these will be available in the next two years.

Question 8: Eco-tourism is increasing throughout the globe. Also eco tourism has the benefit of involving all the segments of the society. What are the main projects you are putting in place in this direction?

Answer 8: We have community projects taking places in the province of Maputo with the Maputo Elephant Park and the great Limpopo Trans-Frontier Park. We have projects in the provinces of Manhica, Tete, and Niassa just to name a few. Throughout the places where we have natural resources like parks and reserves, we try to develop eco-tourism. In fact we try to combine tourism with the preservation of the resources and the communities.

Question 9: There are many advantages for investors to come to Mozambique in the tourism sector. What are the incentives you offer?

Answer 9: There are fiscal incentives that privileges to investors. The investment law is very complete. When an investment is made there are discounts on income taxes for various years. Of course these discounts vary according to the size of the investment and its location.
If you invest in the cities, the discount will be less than if you invest in the remote areas. In fact there is a wide-range of tax incentives but do not forget that there are other incentives such as the beauty of Mozambique for example.

Question 10: In the years to come, what will be your major challenges?

Answer 10: Passing the tourism law is, at the moment, the main challenge. This law is very important for us because it will put in place the whole legal framework for the sector. It also includes the tourist safety and security dimensions. Today this is a very important aspect of tourism and tourists pay a lot of attention to this. We have already incorporated many aspects in this direction. We have also incorporated aspects related to the safety and security of our population such as sexual abuse of children. This is in our code of ethics. Also we clarified the role of private sector and the role of the government. The government is the facilitators and the private sector is the engine of the development of tourism. And we are looking to the communities and how to involve them in the development of the sector. If we do not involve communities, in the long tem we will face difficulties. Therefore the implementation of this law, which we hope will be passed late 2003, is one of the biggest challenges that we have got.

The other issue is to try to increase the number of tourists. No we are talking about 450,000 tourists per year but we have room for many more and thus we have to communicate with people internationally so that they can know that there is a place in the world called Mozambique. A place where they can relax and get the best things nature has to offer. So it is very important in terms of marketing that we do this. This is one of the biggest challenges that we got.

Question 11: Our readers also like to know a little bit about the background of the person we interview. Could you give us an insight on your professional career? How did you become Minister of Tourism?

Answer 11: I started working in 1974 while still studying. I was teacher at secondary school. After that, while studying economics, I worked in a supermarket as supervisor and moved on to supervise two supermarkets.
From there I moved to a construction materials company and worked there about 5 years. Afterwards I integrated the Ministry of Foreign Trade as Director of Human Resources. Having finished my bachelors degree in economics I moved to the department of International Relation of the same Ministry and from there I was invited to setup a procurement office (Bureau de Procurement) in charge of monitoring and analyzing the procurement methods in European companies because at that stage the World Bank and the European Union were injecting a lot of funds in Mozambique. Their procedures were not know so we setup a body where we were training people and at the same time monitoring and approving all the procurement files. In 1987, I went to the United States of America to do my master degree in Business Administration and came back in 1989 and was appointed Director of the Green Marketing Boards. Later on I was appointed National Director of Tourism and then Director of the Investment Promotion Center. In 2000, I was taken from the Investment Promotion Center to be the Minister of Tourism.

Question 12: What would your last message to our readers be?

Answer 12: Come to visit Mozambique, you will live a unique experience.