Comoros is an archipelago of four islands located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and the eastern coast of Africa. The economy of Comoros was hit hard by the adverse effects of the COVID–19 in 2020 after being hit hard in 2019 by Cyclone Kenneth. Covid-19 restrictions and curfews enforced in the country led to a decline in exports of cash crops and tourism, downsizing real GDP by –0.9%. Tourism dropped by 10%, and external debt increased by 17%, leaving the country in need of financial aid of up to 19 million US dollars.

Two years post-pandemic, and Comoros is looking to trigger economic growth by rebuilding its tourism and culture sector.

Comoros recently hosted the eighth International Conference on Responsible and Sustainable Tourism, where Houmed MSAIDIÉ, Comorian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment, Tourism and Handicraft, said the country would take advantage of every opportunity to grow the sector in a way that allows them to compete with neighbouring southern African countries.

However, to achieve this, Comoros must boost attendance to its sites, including encouraging Comorians themselves to travel to the Archipelago.

“The Conferences also had as objective to sensitize the local population, the local communities and the government on the potentiality that exists in our country at all levels, cultural, historical, nature”.  Marie ATTOUMANE, National Director of Tourism said at the conference.

Meanwhile, the government of Comoros is working on another dynamic focused on local tourism, aimed at encouraging Comorian travellers to make tourists from all over the world want to come back and discover Comoros.

A Look At Comoros Tourism Statistics From 2016 To 2020

Despite Comoros’ beautiful beaches and natural forests, the archipelago is not the first choice for tourists around the world, leading to a steady decline in tourism statistics in the country. In 2020, the number of tourist arrivals in Comoros decreased to 6959 Persons from 45077 the year before. Here is a breakdown of tourism statistics in the country since 2016.

• Comoros tourism statistics for 2019 was 72,699,996.95, a 1.36% decline from 2018.
• Comoros tourism statistics for 2018 was 73,699,996.95, a 21.62% increase from 2017.
• Comoros tourism statistics for 2017 was 60,599,998.47, a 20% increase from 2016.
• Comoros tourism statistics for 2016 was 50,500,000.00, a 2.13% decline from 2015