The promotion of heritage inside the politics of tourism development of Mozambique. The role of international cooperation

The development policy that Mozambique is promoting has started improving the economic growth of the country but is still struggling to improve the living conditions of the local population, together with empowerment and capacity building. Tourism may be a significant tool to help the country improve both aspects: increasing the GNP and creating real well-being; in fact, in the first decade of the XXI century, the Government has implemented a policy aimed at helping the development of tourism, the Plano estrategico para o desenvolvimento do turismo. This Plan identifies several institutional weaknesses such as a shortage of infrastructures and of financial tools to sustain local and international investors, and also a lack of skilled human resources; and it aims at increasing the tourist accommodation capacity, the tourist infrastructures and the human resources by the year 2015. Thanks to its natural and cultural heritage, and to its climate and biodiversity, Mozambique could promote a wide range of tourist products, supported by public and private investments and by the creation of cooperation partnerships with other Countries and Ngos. The Country has since long started several programs of international cooperation, but the experience in the field of tourism is quite recent and is now focusing on the realization of several programs promoted by the Plano Estrategico, such as the construction of infrastructures and the creation of capacity building initiatives. This paper analyses the governmental policies aimed at the promotion of tourism and focuses on several case studies to highlight how much the international cooperation is contributing to the development of the sector, supporting the local communities in realizing the tourist policies promoted by the Plano. Despite an evaluation of such experiences is still impossible due to their being still in fieri, we will try to observe them with a critical eye, focusing in particular on the role played by the Ngos and other international institutions working in the country in training, creating capacity building and obtaining empowerment for the local population, but aiming also at the preservation of the local natural and cultural heritage.