Mozambique: Tourism dropped to 3.61% of GDP in 2024 amid post-election unrest

Tourism’s contribution to the Mozambican economy fell in 2024 to its lowest level in three years, at 3.61% of GDP, due to the violence that followed the general elections, according to official data. Data from Mozambique’s 2024 Tourism Satellite Account, published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), show that the sector had accounted for 4.02% of GDP in 2023 and 4.00% in 2022, after 2.46% in 2021. The Direct Gross Value Added of Tourism (DGVAT) in Mozambique reached 52,403 million meticais (€694 million) in 2024, down from 53,784 million meticais (€712.2 million) the previous year.

“The reduction in the relative weight of DGVAT in GDP between 2024 and 2023 reflects the decline in tourism-related activities during this period, linked to political instability that affected the sector, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2024, resulting in a contribution of 3.61% to the total economy,” the document states. Lusa reported on February 12 that tourist arrivals in Mozambique rose to 1.27 million in 2025, representing an increase of nearly 15% in one year. According to minister of economy Basílio Muhate, Mozambique recorded 1.09 million tourist arrivals in 2024, “an indicator that reflects the consistent recovery and growing robustness of the sector.” This growth occurred in a year still heavily marked, from January to March, by post-electoral protests which, since October 2024, caused more than 400 deaths and the destruction of businesses and public infrastructure.

Lusa also reported in February that the number of foreign tourists in Mozambican hotels more than tripled in five years, to nearly 760,000 in 2024, according to INE data. Foreign guests in the country’s hotels rose from 216,297 in 2020 to 757,458 in 2024, a period that encompassed legal changes exempting tourists from 29 countries from visa requirements. The southern province of Inhambane, considered the country’s most tourist-oriented region, received 170,292 foreign tourists in 2024, though movement was concentrated around the capital, with 220,500 foreigners staying in hotels in Maputo province and a further 179,587 in the city of Maputo.

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The number of Mozambican guests in the country’s hotels fell 18%, from 1,336,088 in 2020 to 1,097,864 in 2024. The Mozambican government launched a new online tourism visa registration portal in February at https://evisa.gov.mz, after suspending the mandatory pre-registration requirement in May 2025 due to technical problems. “Through this platform, all those wishing to visit Mozambique can now do so, applying in advance to obtain authorisation to travel to Mozambique and getting the visa online,” announced minister of communications and digital transformation Américo Muchanga. Mozambique introduced the electronic visa in December 2022 and, the following May, visa exemptions for citizens of 29 countries — including Portugal — simplifying the process further and extending investment visa periods for foreigners.

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