About 12,000 workers in the tourism sector remain unemployed since they lost their contracts due to the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic. In fact, only 6,000 out of a total of 18,000 were able to re-enter the labor market.

The tourism sector in the country counts about 69 thousand workers, of which 18 thousand were left without monthly income. For Cândido Langa, National Tourism Director, the hope is that in the coming months, the remaining 12 thousand will be reintegrated.

"The six thousand workers were reintegrated as the Government relaxed the restrictive measures, this in the context of the State of Calamity," said Cândido Langa, quoted by "País".

The National Investment Bank (BNI) made available a fund of 1.6 billion meticais to help businesses cope with the pandemic. However, of the nearly 6,000 tourism instances in the country, only 17 benefited from the covid-19 pandemic emergency line of credit. Support for the tourism sector was nine percent of the fund.

"It must be stressed that even if it were to double the amount made available to the tourism sector, it alone would not be enough to meet the needs of businesses in the industry," said the National Tourism Director, stressing that there are tourism units that would each need $10 million to recover from the crisis.

According to Cândido Langa, the pandemic also caused a reduction in tourist arrivals by about 53 percent during the past year. In other words, only 958,000 tourists entered the country, compared to two million in 2019.

In terms of revenue, the country earned $65 million in international tourism in 2020, down from $173 million collected the previous year. Thus, the drop was 62%.

Domestic tourism also did not escape the negative impacts of covid-19, in which there was a decrease in 33% of revenue in 2020.

About the first five months of this year, our source said it is still premature to assess how the tourist environment is behaving. However, the expectation is that the scenario will improve, especially with the reopening of beaches, casinos, pools, and other entertainment venues.