Mozambique is in its early stages of development as a tourism destination with much room to develop various products. Travelers today use their mobile phones to control every aspect of their lives and travels. They check flight schedules, route options and keep up-to-date with possible delays. 

In Mozambique for example, visitor arrivals totaled approximately 400 000 in 2019. This is very low compared to other in countries in the region. There is, however, considerable opportunity for growth given. 

This demonstrates a very low utilization compared to registered numbers by countries in the region. There is, however, considerable latitude for growth given that projections of the World Tourism Organization indicate that the region could attract 36 million tourists in 2020. However this may not be realized because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

But Mozambique is on track to capitalise on the global tourism and initiatives are being put in place in preparation to achieve its share. 

Mussika tourism technology, is an online platform that aims to present the potentialities with a special focus on the areas of Tourism, Music and Culture of the province of Zambézia, located in the central region of Mozambique and whose capital is the city of Quelimane, located about 1,600 kilometers north of Maputo, the country’s capital. Mussika which means markets in Chuambo language, is a project of the Zambezia Development Studies Center was created in 2019. 

Mussika, is an online mobile application that guides users on the rich tourism exploits of the Zambezia region. The Mussika App whose development was made possible by a grant from the National Research Institute (NRI) to the tune of 2.5 million meticais, is one of the key success stories of and the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) in Mozambique. 

Mussika has made it quite easy for tourist visiting or planning to visit Mozambique, to locate some of the country’s richest tourism attractions, including sandy beaches, music and cultures thereby boosting the tourist numbers to grow the economy. 

The App contains all the wealth of the Zambezia province, thus allowing everyone who has the application to access to all that the province has to offer its visitors. 

Mussika Executive director, Amin Daud says although it is currently based in the province of Zambezia, which is in the center of Mozambique. Mussika intends to expand to the national level before going international but starting with countries in the African continent such as Angola. “We got our initial investment capital through a funding from Mozambique National Research Institute, FNI and we started work in the commercial part, so that people who are not residents in Mozambique get informed about the services that the company provides; If an individual is outside the country and wants to know where to spend a holiday or find accommodation in any part of the country, then Mussika comes in the picture as a solution,” Daud explained. In order to operate in this area, the company carried out a field study to find out if this business would be profitable to participate.  It participated in a national tender floated by FNI and won. According to Daud, after participating in this competition he felt that he was in a position to open the company something he does not regret since he has so far managed to earn a living through this company while also creating jobs for other people and their families. However, there are challenges despite the progress. These include power shortages and the firm is collaborating or work together with the Mozambican government to overcome this situation. “This is a bankable project and we want to expand our services nationwide. We have since designed a project which we hope to present to the ministry of culture and tourism, so that artists from the country can advertise their products in their online platforms, something that is planned for July” Daud said . In turn, Paulo Gomes, Mussika general director added that it is the first company to work in this region. Despite being in early operation stages it is showing good signs of prosperity. At the moment, Mussika has sought to advertise its services and has a partnership with Mozambican singer Sheila Mahoze, to play the role of an ambassador, so that she can support the company’s activities through music. She will produce songs in local languages. `Being an ambassador for a project like MussikaTurismo is a great honor and I will do anything to leverage MussikaTurismo services. I hope that this project will boost this country’s tourism development in the area of technology and tourism, so that Mozambique is known worldwide” said Sheila Mahoze. 

Amin Daud, Executive Director of Mussika, explains that Mussika was registered as a company in 2019. Although it is currently based in the province of Zambezia, which is in the center of Mozambique, the Daud has plans to cover the whole country and even to go across borders, starting with neighboring countries, such as Angola and Tanzania. “We got our initial investment capital through a funding from the FNI through a tender process to develop the App so that people who are not residents in Mozambique get informed about the services that the company provides. If an individual is in or outside of the country and wants to know where to spend a holiday or find accommodation, then Mussika would provide the solutions,” Daud explains. In order to operate in the tourism sector, the company carried out a field study to test viability of the business. The results were positive and the rest is history as the saying goes, Daud intimates. The grant enabled Daud to open the company, something he does not regret since it has become his main source of livelihoods as well as many others directly and indirectly. 

The App has five subscription packages: basic, bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The packages provide different marketing features, such as publicity, company profile and public campaign. 107 

Other features include bulk SMS, vacancies, advertisement, contact management and online sales. 

“This is a bankable project and we want to expand our services nationwide. We have since designed a project, which we hope to present to the ministry of culture and tourism, so that artists from the country can advertise their products in their online platforms,” Daud says. 

Paulo Gomes, Mussika’s general director, added that Mussika is the first company of its nature to work in the Zambezia region. Despite being in its infancy, it is showing good signs of prosperity.