Mozambique: Tourism Development Plan for Quirimbas National Park

Client

WWF

(via Environment Business & Development Group/Leeds Metropolitan University - 2007)

Challenge

WWF had recently contracted with the Mozambican government to run Mozambique’s newest national park. Quirimbas National Park includes the Quirimbas archipelago and a swathe of the interior abutting the Tanzania and Malawi borders. At almost 2.5 hours’ flying time from the capital, Maputo, the area is relatively remote and untouristed. But substantial numbers of people live in communities in the park.

Our challenge was to prepare a tourism development plan for WWF, which maintained a harmonious balance between economic development and environmental conservation. The plan should identify opportunities and sites for tourism development that would provide economic benefits for local people. But this had to be done within a conservation framework, which ensured a sustainable balance between local economic development, local communities’ social and cultural wellbeing, and a protected natural environment in which wildlife people, flora and the landscape could co-exist in harmony.

Solution

• "left">We prepared a sensitive tourism development plan that addressed each sustainable priority:    

                     -   economic development

                     -   community wellbeing

                     -   environmental conservation

• Opportunities for tourism growth were identified within the context of conservation. This mostly meant limiting investment to certain areas, proposing restrictions on infrastructure development (e.g. roads, accommodation capacity, boat sizes) and recommending sustainable management processes (such as rainwater harvesting)

• "On the other hand we identified appropriate growth opportunities amongst eco-tourists and how to attract them

• We saw gradual growth in eco-aware visitors as one opportunity for local economic development, while at the same time contributing to conservation of the park’s natural environment

Result

The plan is still at final draft stage. Hopefully it will set an international standard for developing tourism within a conservation framework.