Maputo, Dec. 22, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique received a total of 568,492 international tourists in the first half of this year and expects to receive another 318,000 during the Christmas and New Year holidays, an official source said on Monday.
"In the first half of the year, we had around 568,492 international tourists. We note that for the festive season we expect to receive around 318,000 [foreign] tourists," said the National Director of Tourism, Claire Zimba, today at a press conference on the festive season in Maputo.
According to the official, the country now has available, "thanks to the efforts of the private sector," around 72,531 beds and 49,842 rooms for the holidays, with an occupancy rate of 79% as of 4 December, the day of the official launch of the country's high tourist season.
"A particular message that we also bring on the occasion of this festive season [is] the fact that we prioritise the promotion of domestic tourism, because we understand that national citizens, Mozambicans, can enjoy the resources and potential that the country offers," she said.
Claire Zimba also pointed out that 2026 will be a "critical" year, due to the implementation of "structural measures" that will have a "transformational" impact on tourism and the entire ecosystem involving private initiative.
Taquidir Jagá, leader of the joint command of the 2025/2026 New Year operation at the National Migration Service (Senami), said at the time that between the 12th and 21st December, the country recorded the entry of 51,462 travellers and the departure of another 40,225.
By Sunday, the country had recorded the entry of 12,461 vehicles and the exit of 5,902 at the Ressano Garcia border, the main border between Mozambique and South Africa in the south of the country.
"The joint command of Operation Consolidation 2025/2026 increased monitoring levels with a supervisory team to control migratory, customs, police and road traffic. [It also ensured] speed in continuous service and minimisation of the time spent by national and foreign citizens in their tourist, work or commercial locations during the 2025-2026 festive season," he explained.
Mozambican authorities said on the 14th that they expect 935,978 travellers to enter the country at all borders during the Christmas and New Year holidays, representing a 35% increase compared to 2024.
"A migratory movement of around 935,978 travellers is expected, compared to 692,602 in the 2024/2025 operation," said Cármen Mazenga, spokesperson for the joint command set up to deal with the festive season.
According to the command's spokesperson, the expected migratory movement for the current festive season represents a 35% increase compared to last year's flow, and the borders of Maputo province, which includes Ressano Garcia, are the ones that will receive the highest migratory movement during the holidays, with more than 662,000 entries.
In order to ensure flexibility in service, the authorities guarantee that border crossings will be carried out using a single-stop model on both the Mozambican and South African sides.
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