The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) of Mozambique on Monday called the ban on flights to the country, following the identification of the Omicron variant in southern Africa, an “axe blow to the economy and business”.
“We were starting to get excited about the recovery of the economy and the return of business, but these new restrictions have dealt a blow,” the president of the CTA’s Tourism portfolio, Abdula Momade told Lusa.
Momade said that many investors had already resumed business trips to Mozambique and many others had scheduled to do so in the coming months, following improved safety conditions in the centre and north of the country and with the projected arrival of the floating platform that will produce natural gas in the Rovuma basin, but there could be a “catastrophic setback”.
“Leisure tourism and business tourism had hoped to emerge from the rubble into which they were thrown by the various waves of Covid-19 that affected Mozambique and the world, but uncertainty returns with this news,” he pointed out.
Momade stressed that among the countries that have issued a ban on travel to southern Africa, including Mozambique, are major investors, who will have their activities affected.
If the ban on international travel continues, he said, the expectation of creating businesses and jobs will be frustrated, leading to “despair for entrepreneurs, workers and families”.
