Most tourist resorts have already been fully rehabilitated and have resumed their activities, while others are in an advanced stage of reconstruction.
Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana, who visited the districts of Vilankulo, Inhassoro, and Govuro last week said that most of the resorts are in a completion stage, and thus success is guaranteed for the forthcoming tourist season.
'Not only there are tourist resorts in a completion stage of reconstruction, but also there are others that have resumed activities, a situation that allows us to face the future with optimism', said Sumbana, adding that tourism operators took the opportunity of the reconstruction works to improve their facilities.
He said that 'Favio' did not discourage those operators but, on the contrary, they made this disaster an opportunity to consolidate the structure of their facilities.
He explained that the government has granted 10 million US dollars to support the reconstruction of tourism infrastructures in Inhambane, particularly in the private sector. This money is to be refunded within in three years, free of interest.
Of that amount, seven million were for Vilankulo, and the remaining for Inhassoro district.
For Vilankulo, the government received a five million US dollars loan from the World Bank to build a protection fencing wall at the coast, to prevent invasion of the sea water.
Sumbana noted lately that tourism in Inhambane has been gaining a new momentum, which creates hopes that this will become a huge industry soon.
To make his point, he said that an investment of 80 million US dollars was recently approved for the building of five star hotel at the Pomene beach, in the Massinga district, with a capacity for 200 beds.
The southern part of the province, more precisely the Inharrime and Zavala districts, are also entering the competition, with the Zavora and Canda beaches as the most sought after by a number of tourism operators.
SOURCE: AIM
