Vilanculos closed to international traffic

Tour operators in the northern part of Inhambane province have expressed their opposition to the Mozambican government’s decision to close Vilanculos aerodrome to international traffic, Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias reported.The tourism operators, the sector which is the main source of income for thousands of people in the districts of Vilanculos and Govuro and the five islands that make up the Bazaruto archipelago, said the closure of the airport to international traffic will end the activity in region.“Tourists, especially foreign ones, who use existing tourist facilities in the region, will no longer do so as they arrived in the country by air,” said one of the operators cited by the newspaper.Vilanculos aerodrome was opened to domestic public traffic in 1962 and international traffic in April 1997, when passenger traffic increased from 75,000 passengers to more than 200,000 per year.After benefiting from repair and modernisation works worth US$10 million, the airfield was considered a tool to boost the economy not only of Vilanculos itself, which has struggled to attain city status, but also of the entire northern region of Inhambane province.