Tourism revenues in Vilanculos, Inhambane province, incidentally one of the country's top tourist destinations, fell by 83% in 2020 from the previous year, due to the pandemic.

The restrictions imposed by the pandemic had an impact on almost all of the 154 existing tourism operators at this point. Going into detail, the president of the Vilanculos Tourism Association, in Inhambane province, Yassin Amuji, reveals that "revenue from this region to the state coffers fell from 120 million meticais in 2019 to 20 million meticais in 2020.

According to Yassin Amuji, right after the outbreak in March 2019, several hotels there were closed for five to six months, which impacted revenue collection.

"When we started reopening in November with the reduction in covid-19 numbers, we started betting on a more aggressive digital marketing strategy for nationals and started to feel some flow, which is gradually increasing," says Yassin Amuji.

Meanwhile, Yassin Amuji considers it essential to adopt alternative strategies to cope with covid-19 and revive tourism, since, "the pandemic is here to stay and we have to find new alternatives."