The locus and costs of activities along the value chain of a conference tourism package for Maputo is presented in the Fig. 7 below. The package discussed here is a virtual package based on available published prices. The assumption is that the package is assembled by a conference coordinator, an event planner and/or destination management company.  The package is designed for small conferences hosting about 500 people from a variety of countries including U.K, Portugal, South Africa, U.S.A, and surrounding African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius. Participants stay for 5 nights, in a double occupancy room, in an upscale 4-5 star hotel/lodge.




  The package also includes add-ons of 2day weekend trips to a leisure destination in close proximity to Maputo (either Kruger or Inhaca). Unlike typical leisure packages where the cost of the intercontinental flight is not included in the package price, the package is this case consists mainly of the cost of visitor pick-up and other ground handling services, accommodation and conference facilities.  

 

With the help of local agents, or through their corporate offices, participants make their own reservations independently in hotels recommended by the event planner and also available through the tour operator. Add-on attractions and post conference leisure activities are bought from local tour operators in Maputo. Participants take taxi for transfers from airport to hotel. Each participant books the flight from his country of origin to Maputo. Thus, although all participants will gather together as a group, there is a strong element of individuality, risk, and complexity in scheduling and planning a major conference.


 

This coupled with the high profile of clients makes event planners place high emphasis on security, location, access, previous experience and price, as important factors that influence their choice of a destination for major conferences.  Also conference tourism requires availability of ample capacity to accommodate large groups of tourists within a specific time period. Although many participants will travel independently from a variety of destinations, all participants make use of the same service providers at the destination. The capacity of these service providers to handle large numbers of people therefore becomes a significant determinant of competitiveness in this market segment.

 

The main economic agents that influence the costs and value of a tourism product in this segment of the market are the event planners, international and regional airliners, and the hotel/resorts. Airlines and hotels account for a majority (over 60%) of the travel expenditures. Domestic tour operators and travel agencies appear to play some significant role, accounting for over 20% of tourist expenditures, if they are successful in selling tour packages to business tourists. This usually would require close coordination with the event organizers and hotels. However, ground operators (e.g. ground transport organizers, taxi cabs, car rental agents, and so on) do not seem to play a significant role, as they account for less than 5% of tourist travel expenditures. 

 

A few firms in Maputo are available to provide laundry services, maintenance, landscaping, and so on, but currently hotels are not sourcing these services in significant quantities. Local food producing firms contribute very little value to the tourism value chain; over 90% of high skilled labor is sourced from South Africa; and almost all machinery and equipment are imported from abroad. The inability of Mozambican firms to provide these goods and service is a reflection of the weak capabilities of the economy.

 

There is room for increasing the value and volume of ancillary activities and services in Maputo though they are definitely better than Bazaruto and Quirimbas. For example, the only tours currently available are: half day city tours, night life tours, and day trip to Inhaca. Tourists patronizing some of these tours have not reached a critical mass to allow for regular scheduling. As a result tour operators only conduct tours when there are a minimum number of individuals – making its frequency erratic. Daily tour trips to Kruger are also attractive to business tourists.

 

 There is also very little exploration of cultural tourism in Maputo. Curios and dancing are some of the experiences currently available in the city. Opportunities to conduct “village tours” just outside of city limits have not been fully exploited mainly due to access and logistical problems. Marketing is also very weak, and the few local tour operators in the business do not have appropriate vehicles; and lack trained human resources to manage such tours.

 

 Discretionary shopping expenditure is estimate at about 5-10% (~US$100) of a visitor’s total expenditure. There is potential to further increase this share, but prospects are limited because a majority of the tourist’s shopping activity takes place in the informal sector. While visitors can walk the city streets and locate handcraft vendors, there is limited effort to provide a formal operating environment for these vendors. This not only impacts vendors due to low visibility, but also increases the perception of risk for visitors who may feel insecure about buying souvenirs around street corners and roadsides. 

 

Mozambique has valuable intrinsic assets and a strong comparative advantage in tourism, as evidenced by the analysis of various destinations presented previously.  This is also confirmed by the growing interest in the country from South African, Portuguese and other investors - often in collaboration with local partners. However, at the present time, Mozambique is at a crossroads. Industry-specific issues such as poor accessibility and positioning in the international marketplace, absence from the international distribution networks, and thin product line dispersed across locations have to be addressed to allow the tourism sector to grow. More generally, poor investment climate increases finance and inputs costs, drains resources from the private sector, creates an uneven playing field and entry barriers for innovative entrepreneurship. Dynamic development of the tourism industry in Mozambique is smothered by the confluence of these obstacles.