IFC’s program to facilitate sustainable private investment in Mozambique’s tourism industry was recently selected as the best tourism investment program in Sub-Saharan Africa by the investment-focused media group Africa Investor.
The award highlights the program’s progress over the last year in developing Mozambique’s tourism industry and attracting investments to an increasingly important sector of Mozambique’s economy.
Mozambique still receives relatively few tourists from outside Africa compared with regional neighbors such as South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania. But the country’s coral-fringed coastline, tropical climate and an extensive network of protected areas make tourism a potentially important driver of economic growth.
The Mozambique Tourism Anchor Investment Program, a joint initiative of the government of Mozambique and IFC, aims to capitalize on the country’s natural beauty to attract private investment and propel economic growth.
The Anchor program identifies, packages and markets investment opportunities in the country’s tourism industry. It has already identified and secured land titles for four sites and is marketing its concept for tourist resorts to potential investors. The program is also working to improve the business environment in Mozambique to make it easier to invest in the tourism sector.
Expressions of Interest
Its efforts are already paying off: the program has already received numerous expressions of interest from investors in the sites it is currently marketing, with many more formal proposal expected in the coming months as procurement for each individual site gets officially underway.
“We expect to secure private investments of around $1 billion in four separate investment sites in Mozambique supported by the program” said Mozambique’s Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana, who accepted the award on the program’s behalf. “I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the entire Anchor Program team in recognition of all our hard work.”
Benefitting Local Communities
Ensuring that tourism brings tangible benefits to local communities is a key priority of the Anchor program. To do this, the program will work to ensure that the tourist facilities that are developed utilize local small and medium enterprises once they are up and running.
It also expects the developments at the four locations to generate approximately 25,000 jobs. And the project’s plans call for the all of the tourist facilities at each site to apply a sales tax of up to two percent, the proceeds of which will be used to improve facilities in surrounding communities.
“The Anchor Program has taken a unique, targeted approach to facilitating tourism investment in Africa,” said Irene Visser, Tourism Program Manager at IFC. “These investments will support the development and preservation of protected areas, provide positive international exposure for Mozambique, and drive the country’s growing economy.”
IFC operates a similar program in Madagascar.
For more information contact:
Houtan Bassiri
Communications Officer
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 731 3179
Email: hbassiri@ifc.org
