The tourist experience consists of a series of individual experience points provided by multiple different entities from air carriers and hotels to restaurants and tours26. Failure to provide a good experience at any point may undermine the entire experience and accordingly destroy the competitiveness of the destination.  A country’s competitiveness in the provision of tourism services is, therefore, complex and requires the harmonization of a diverse set of inter-dependent industries and the public sector.




Understanding the nature of constraints confronting the tourism industry itself, therefore, requires a rigorous assessment of the role of each value chain component in the overall tourism experience, the linkages to other agents, and the performance of the service providers, industries and institutions. 

The value chain framework is based on concrete itineraries that are time, place, and price- specific. The tourism value chain – the itinerary - is mapped by way of economic organization, industrial and locational specificity within the parameter of total trip expenditure. The study then goes further to identify how value is appropriated among the various service providers and suppliers in the industry. 


To assess the performance of operators within each segment a number of metrics and indicators are compiled and consolidated with insights on the factors affecting Mozambique’s competitiveness. The approach emphasizes the supply-side aspects of the tourism experience and also enables the identification of industry-specific constraints, constraints driven by the economic organization and the location specific factors that curb the growth of the tourism sector. The framework helps set priorities for targeted intervention not only at a very industry and location specific level but also more broadly in terms of country-wide policies.

 

The analysis in this section focuses on 3 itineraries chosen to reflect the heterogeneity of tourism products, destinations and market segments that characterizes Mozambique’s tourism offer. The travel package as the unit of analysis facilitates the identification of the origin and destination specific features and of the interactions of the economic agents in demand, supply and marketing of the package. While the itinerary-specific analysis may not fully reflect the nature of the broader business environment, it grounds the discussion regarding the business climate.

 

The following itineraries were selected for the analysis:

1. Lisbon - Maputo – Vilanculos/Bazaruto Archipelagos (Southern Leisure Tourism)

 2. London/Johannesburg - Maputo – Pemba/Quirimbas (Northern Leisure Tourism) 

3. Europe – Maputo (Business/Conference Tourism)

4. Nelspruit - Maputo – Inhambane - Vilanculos – Bilene – Maputo (Southern Adventure Tourism); discussed in Volume II of the report

 5. Maputo - Nampula - Cuamba – Niassa Reserve - Pemba – Ibo (Northern Adventure Tourism); discussed in Volume II of the report.

The destination cluster includes the districts of Vilanculos and the nearby Bazaruto archipelagos, which is designated a Marine Park30 (see map). The main attractions are the beaches, diving, superb kingfish and marlin fishing, and extensive birdlife.  These features have made the Inhambane province the heart of leisure tourism in Mozambique.

 

Accommodation on the archipelagos is mostly in the luxury category, while accommodation on the coast caters for all kinds of travelers from campsites to luxury lodges.  The main district of Vilanculos is underdeveloped and functions mainly a transit point. The Vilanculos - Bazaruto tourism cluster has not yet capitalized on its proximity to the South Africa market (e.g. Kruger, Cape Town, and Johannesburg) and other nearby attractions like the Okavanga delta in Botswana, and the Victoria Falls of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 

Even though competing sun, sand, and sea (SSS) tourism experiences either are much farther away (e.g. Mauritius, Zanzibar, and Seychelles) or do not posses the same qualities (e.g. Port Elizabeth).  Table 6 below presents basic statistics on tourism in the destination. Tourism contributes marginally to the provincial economy (about 1% of provincial GDP and approximately 700 jobs) with approximately 30,000 tourists annually, Vilanculos/Bazaruto accounts for about 7% of national annual tourism receipts. Compared to global and African benchmarks, both number of visitors and revenue per visitor are slightly lower than the average for Mozambique in general.

 

In Vilanculos/Bazaruto there’s no strong collaboration across the different stakeholders in the tourism sector. This leaves the management issues on a destination level to dispersed and individual efforts or to the effect that issues not being addressed. However there are a number of overriding issues that need a broad-based approach.   

To manage growth of the destination in a sustainable manner the cluster must convene to deal with the issues that threaten the destination and the opportunities the destination can pursue. Specifically for the marine park there is an institutional framework in place:

 (1) a public agency: the Bazaruto National Park Services and the Administrative Post, which is the custodian of land resources

 (2) Local community and their elected committee members and traditional authorities

(3) Tourism and hospitality service providers located on the Archipelagos. However, capacity is weak particularly in terms of enforcement of regulations of the Marine Park: land access and use e.g. zoning32, environmental threats, transparency regarding marine park fees34, and maintenance of common tourism assets.

 

The absence of an institutional coordination, monitoring and enforcement capacity inhibits the ability to deal with common problems, and to pursue opportunities in a coordinated manner that leverages resources. This undermines efforts aimed at securing and maintaining public good assets like the environment and the infrastructure in the destination. Also it limits the ability to communicate effectively within the private sector (e.g. between hotels and air carriers) and with the public sector on a local and country wide level on important issues such as land-use for expansion, disaster management, environmental degradation and so on. It also affects the efficacy with which stakeholders promote and market the entire destination as well as create common assets that may enhance the destination offering.