Maputo, Sept. 30, 2024 (Lusa) - Revenues collected by conservation areas in Mozambique increased to an all-time high of 226 million meticais (€3.2 million) last year, according to a report by the National Statistics Institute (INE) to which Lusa had access on Monday.
In the 2023 Basic Environmental Indicators report, INE states that these revenues had been 221 million meticais (€3.1 million) in 2022 and 149 million meticais (€2.1 million) in 2021.
In 2020, due to the effects of the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, these revenues were only 68 million meticais (€955,000), while in 2019 they totalled 181 million meticais (€2.5 million).
The country currently has 48,900 square kilometres in 11 national parks, the largest of which is Limpopo, in Gaza province, with 11,233 square kilometres.
There are also seven reserves and protected areas, totalling a further 65,114 square kilometres.
According to the same INE report, in 2023 an estimated 205,375 people were living inside Mozambican protected areas, in 162 communities, plus another 501,737 in 504 communities in buffer zones around these parks and reserves.
In 2023, Maputo National Park, a protected reserve 70 kilometres from the Mozambican capital, alone registered a record 20,000-plus visitors, its administrator told Lusa in April, saying that this was thanks to economic recovery and investments underway.
"It was the best year ever in terms of visitors," explained Miguel Gonçalves in an interview with Lusa. "In terms of marine activities, we're still recovering. The best year in terms of the number of divers - the number of people who came to see marine mammals - was in 2017, but we're getting to the levels we were at before Covid-19."
With the ionic giraffes and elephants that usually stroll along the N1 highway, Maputo National Park benefits from its proximity to the South African cities of Durban and Johannesburg, combining sea and land animals and, since 2018, with the inauguration of the Katembe bridge facilitating the connection between the capital to the south, demand has continued to grow.
"The number of tourists has started to increase, with the obvious exception of the Covid-19 ," said Gonçavles. "It's been increasing by ten to fifteen percent every year for the last fifteen years."
Last year, he said, was "the best ever" with around 22% more visitors than in 2022. He stressed that the strategic focus now is on “investing in tourism” to improve the quality of the product.
Inside the park there are already campsites "with very good conditions" - that is, hot water, running water and electricity, as well as three lodges for tourist accommodation, two of which are five-star.
"We're also training our human resources [and] hiring more human resources so that we're prepared," he said. "We're also publicising the park more, talking about it more."
The Maputo National Park, which was officially created as such on 7 December 2021, covers two historically established protected areas, on land and at sea: the Maputo Special Reserve and the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve.
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