TWO BILLION DOLLARS IN TOURISM INVESTMENT EXPECTED

The Mozambican government expects around two billion U.S. dollars to be invested over the next 10 years in key tourism projects, said tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana on Wednesday, at a meeting with the national and foreign cooperation partners of his ministry.He said that the “Arco Norte” (Northern Arc) project in the centre and north of the country is at an advanced stage of implementation.As part of this project, tourist operators in Zambezia, Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces will be trained in matters that will allow them to have access to funds to invest in improving their establishments. The objective is to transform the north of the country into a major tourist destination.It is also expected that “Arco Norte” will allow the creation of 141,000 new jobs over a ten year period.In Cabo Delgado, “Arco Norte” covers three top level tourist resorts in the provincial capital, Pemba, and conservation of the historic centre of Ibo Island. In Nampula, the project covers unspoiled coastline from Lumbo to Sancol, near the country’s first colonial capital, Mozambique Island, while in Niassa, tourist infrastructures are to be built on the shore of Lake Niassa.Sumbana said that the idea of the meeting with partners was to establish a platform for dialogue and for sharing information about the development of the tourism sector.