New Tourism Development Agency Set Up

By Paul Fauvet
 
Maputo (MOZTIMES) - Mozambique’s new National Agency for Tourism Development and Investment (ANDITUR) “is not just an institutional reform: it is a true and deep paradigm shift”, declared Prime Minister Bemvinda Levi on Friday, when she swore into office Helder Jauana as the Chairperson of the ANDITUR Board of Directors.
 
“With the creation of Anditur”, she said, “we are no longer dealing with tourism in a merely promotional manner. Instead, we are approaching it as an integrated model, oriented towards investment, the structuring of projects and adding value to our economy”.
 
“Anditur”, she added, “has the mandate to transform tourism into a genuine motor of economic growth, job creation, social inclusion, and the projection of our country internationally”.
 
Levi expected Anditur “to solve the constraints which have been limiting the accelerated growth of tourism in our country. I am referring to the slowness and excessive red tape in the licensing of tourism projects, the granting of concessions, the structuring of bankable projects, and institutional coordination”.
 
“Anditur”, she added, “is called upon to operate in the entire value chain of tourism, from the promotion of the national tourism brand, and the financial structuring of projects, to the mobilisation of national and foreign investment, and the promotion of public-private partnerships”.
 
Anditur should provide investors with “integrated services, technical, financial and environmental assessments, with clear and predictable deadlines”, as well as “organising concessions transparently, and accompanying investors from project design to implementation”.
 
Jauana’s role as chairperson, the Prime Minister said, “is not just to manage an institution. We expect pragmatic leadership of the team that will put into operation one of the most important platforms for the economic transformation of our country”.
 
“You and your team”, she continued, “must ensure that tourism in Mozambique becomes a structured and competitive sector, integrated into international value chains”.
 
In addition to traditional forms of tourism, Anditur, Levi said, “should develop the existing potential for adventure tourism, cultural tourism and historic and religious tourism. Tourism should contribute to the diversification of the economy, equilibrium on the balance of payments and the affirmation of Mozambique as a global, competitive and safe destination”.
 
She urged Jauana to guarantee “institutional efficiency and credibility” and to stimulate partnerships with private businesses.
 
Each tourism project, she stressed, “should create jobs, and include micro, small and medium Mozambican enterprises, thus valuing local content and bringing increasing benefits to communities”.  (PF)