GOVERNMENT ORDERS REMOVAL OF UNLAWFUL PUBLIC NOTICES FROM TOURIST RESORTS

The government of the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane has ordered the immediate removal of public notices form all tourist resorts with the words 'private property', claiming that these are unlawful. In the past, the Mozambican press has reported cases in Inhambane of nationals who complained of having been barred from tourism resorts or beaches owned by foreign nationals. According to the inspector of Tourism Directorate in Inhambane, Joaquim Dias Baltazar, these public notices may upset or discourage certain customers who may be forced to believe that they are being excluded. 'Whenever we find signs in restaurants saying “private property”, or “no entry”, we remove them immediately, because it seems like “apartheid”, as people who come across these notices may feel excluded,' said Baltazar, cited by the daily paper “Diario de Mocambique”. He also accused some tourism operators of instructing their employees to bar unwanted customers from entering their premises and the use of unjustifiably high prices as a means to select their clients. 'Restaurants owners are using a number of excuses to bar people from entering their premises. We find prices which are unrealistic for our market”, he stressed.As part of this initiative, the authorities in Inhambane have launched a door-to-door campaign to warn tourism operators to avoid discriminating their customers, explained Baltazar.The current campaign of the Inhambane government follows another launched about 10 years ago. Inhambane is one of the most sought after provinces in Mozambique by foreign tourists, who are lured by the unmatched beauty of its landscapes and pristine beaches.