The Evolution Of The Tourism Sector Of Mauritius Throughout The Past Decades

Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has undergone a remarkable economic transformation from a monocrop, low-income and agriculturally based economy to a diversified, upper middle-income economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. Over the last decades Mauritius has achieved steady growth and is known to have a sound and healthy economy.

The economy mainly rests on sugar, tourism, textiles and apparel, and financial services, but is currently expanding into fish processing, information and communications technology, and hospitality and property development.

In Mauritius Tourism is the third pillar of our economy, behind the E.P.Zs and Agricultural sector, the tourist sector has contributed significantly towards economic growth and has been a key factor in the overall development of the island. It is to be noted that within the past two decades tourist arrivals has increased at an average annual rate of 9 % with a corresponding increase of about 21% in tourism receipts. In the year 2000, gross tourism receipts were 14.2 billion rupees (508.3 million US $) and contributed to about 11 % of our GDP. Tourism may be called to play an even more important role in the wake of the After-GATT Agreements.

Tourist arrivals have been expanding consequently throughout years, thus rising from 103,000 in 1977 to 656,450 in 2000 and to reach 1,341,860 in 2017. Furthermore this figure is expected to increase by 5% by the end of 2018 with an expected receipt of 62.5 Billion rupees, a 3.7% increase of 60.3 Billion rupees compared to the year 2017.Being the fourth most important contributor to the economy, this sector accounted for a 7.1 percent of GDP. In 2017, it grew by 5.2 percent and it is forecast to grow by 4.7 percent in 2018.

Travel & tourism's contribution to GDP

The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP in 2017 was MUR34.2bn (7.4% of GDP). This is forecast to rise by 1.6% to MUR34.7bn in 2018. This primarily reflects the economic activity generated by industries such as hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services (excluding commuter services). However, it also includes, for example, the activities of the restaurant and leisure industries directly supported by tourists.

The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP is expected to grow by 4.6% pa to MUR54.3bn (8.1% of GDP) by 2028.

The evolution in tourism sector

In the early 1970, to attract tourists, the government created a national airline, to increase the capacity to and from traditional markets (which is UK and France) by progressively extending its network to reach new tourist markets.

In 1971, The hotel School was created to encourage growth of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry by supplying skilled labor for the different functional parts of hotels, tour operators. Then, in the 1980s, the government got involved with foreign hotel groups such as South African Sun International and well renowned labels such as Meridien to situate Mauritius as an upmarket destination concentrating on sea and sand. The marketing concentrated on opinion leaders and cinema stars who were requested to stay in Mauritius, road shows were organized by the then Mauritius Government Tourist Organization.

In the years 2000, the liberalization of air access attracted a number of carriers so as to match the increasing number of hotels and rooms. The rise in bungalows and small hotels associated with the venue of new air carriers such as Virgin or French Corsair to attract new waves of tourists, more down-market and with lower disposable income. In the years 2000, several green concepts such as Casela, La Vanille Crocodile Park etc. were launched for environment conscious market segment.

As from 2009, with the economic recession in Europe, the traditional market, Mauritius tried to inspect new emerging markets such as China. As China is a massive rich country, it can support Mauritius beneficial by increasing its economic. On the other hand, Chinese compensate with finance erection and infrastructure proposition has been a grateful relief, even when it has been attached to the use of Chinese Labor and inputs.

In 2010, even with an acute budgeting Mauritius has encountered to overcome and with its big surprised the tourists have been increasing. It is a nice performance for the island even if recession has popped up. Whereas in 2011, Mauritius wanted to lift Tourism markets outside Europe.

In 2012, Mauritius Tourism Sector planned on emerging markets and found India as a first-class source market. The strategy is to enter the Indian market and to concentrate on the exploit of MICE and Wedding Segments. The Indian Travel trade to advertise and to sell Mauritius as a MICE destination. According to the then Minister of Tourism & Leisure ‘Mr Michael Yeung Sik Yuen’, their requirements were to set Mauritius as a high level standard of luxury and accommodation, travel, meetings and conference arrangements, host team building activities, etc. As well as promoting Mauritius as a Golf and Wellness Tourism destination. “India is ranked the 6th biggest market for Mauritius and the country registered 57,255 Indian arrivals in 2013. Travel trade is crucial to grow up tourism to Mauritius.

In 2014, the number of tourist arrivals increased by 4.6% to reach 1,038,968. According to the Bank of Mauritius, tourism earnings for the year 2014 amounted to Rs 44,304 million, up by 9.2% from Rs 40,557 million in 2013. For 2015, tourism earnings were forecasted at around Rs 48,500 million. During his 2017-2018 Budget speech, the Prime Minister and minister of Finance, Pravind Jugnauth, revealed the determination of the government to further strengthen the effectiveness of the tourism sector. Among the measures stated in the air industry, an additional weekly flight will be managed by Air Mauritius on Singapore to meet the increasing demand on the Asia-Africa corridor. The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) will also boost the twin destinations offer “Beach & Bush Tourism” of Kenya and Mauritius. The airport development master plan will be assessed to allow the construction of a second passenger terminal and the renovation of the old one. On the maritime side, a new passenger terminal will be constructed at Les Salines to fit both cruise passengers as well as inter-island travelers.

Moreover, to promote tourists’ expenditure during their stay, especially on Mauritian products, the government will give a Rs.200 discount voucher for a purchase of a minimum of Rs.1000 on local handcraft products. Finally, hotels will have the permission to install gaming machines inside their premises and that would be accessible to non-residents and foreigners only.

What is being done to promote the tourism industry?

For the promotion of the tourism Industry, there exist the Mauritius Tourism Authority, which is a parastatal body operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism and External Communications and is governed by the Tourism Authority Act 2006. Its objectives are to:

• promote the sustainable development of the tourism industry
• foster and encourage the conduct of activities in the tourism industry in a responsible manner in order to preserve the integrity of the Mauritian destination
• co-ordinate, support and interact with organizations and institutions aimed at promoting the tourism industry
• foster research for the effective implementation of tourism policies
• promote public understanding and interest in the tourism industry
• develop and implement tourism and tourism related projects
• promote co-ordination and co-operation between the public sector agencies and the private sector organizations engaged in the tourism industry.

Furthermore, there also exist another authority namely, the MTPA (Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority) which was set up under the MTPA Act 1996 as a parastatal body to promote Mauritius abroad as a tourist destination. Its main role is to enhance the image of Mauritius as a prime holiday and up-market destination by consolidating our traditional markets and exploiting niche segment in new markets. Moreover, there are measures taken by the Government to promote and sustain the tourism sector.

For two consecutive years, the Government has been successful in eliminating the low season of tourists arrivals by organizing specific sport events and shopping fiesta with the collaboration of tour operators, airlines and hoteliers during the period of May to September. Also Special promotional packages were offered targeting proximity markets such as Reunion Island.

Also in the recent financial year, the MTPA launched its “Mauritius 365” campaign as a result to make Mauritius more appealing during the low season. In other words, the MTPA projected Mauritius as an all year round destination with its wide range of activities. The campaign is comprised with a series of events such as the Mauritius Open Golf Tournament, Rugby 10 Tournament, International Chef Competition, Cycling and Mauritius Extravaganza. It is good to note that the result of this low season strategy impacted in an increase of 9.2 % in tourist arrivals for period May to September 2016 over the corresponding period 2015.

Promotional activities

During the recent financial year, the MTPA further conducted several marketing campaigns in the traditional, emerging, new and regional markets. This has greatly contributed to boost tourist arrivals and tourism earnings in the country. For instance, tourist arrivals increased by 10.8% and tourism receipt by 11.15% in 2016. The MTPA has participated in several destination promotional campaigns thus promoting Mauritius as a prime holiday and upmarket destination. For instance, it has promote Mauritius by:

• Participation in 26 overseas tourism fairs.
• Organization of 14 roadshows
• Organization of 40 events at national level with participation of tourists.
• Sponsoring of AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Golf 2017
• Hotel classification

In February 2016, a hotel classification system was introduced in order to consolidate the tourism industry with a well-defined and proper criterion for operational standards. The classification system, which adopts a customer-centric approach, has greatly contributed towards boosting the image of Mauritius as an upmarket destination and reinforcing tourist confidence by ensuring value for money. A total of 99 hotels have been classified.

• Business facilitation

An E-license is operational at the Tourism Authority since May 2017 whereby tourism operators can apply and obtain their license online. According to statistics, a total of 626 licenses have been issued for the year 2017, comprising of 108 tourism Enterprise licenses, 140 pleasure craft licenses and 378 skippers licenses.

Apart from these measures, the government has announced new policies and measures in the latest budget 2017/18 in order to promote and boost the tourism industry further. They are;-Firstly, the arrival of the KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) to Mauritius this year will further open up air access not only to the Netherlands but also to neighboring countries and regions namely, Germany, Benelux countries, Scandinavian countries and Eastern Europe. This will further diversify our markets in Europe.

Secondly, since the Africa-Asia air corridor is fully operated and is showing positive results, thus to maintain its dynamism and rising demand, Air Mauritius shall operate an additional flight to Singapore. As a result this shall boost our tourist arrivals.

Thirdly, the Government is giving a voucher that will entitle a tourist to Rs 200 discount on a minimum purchase of Rs1000 of Mauritian handicraft products. This should increase expenditure per tourist while at the same time giving a boost to Mauritian handicrafts.

Fourth, also to attract more Asian tourists, the government will allow hotels to host gaming machines within their premises. However, this will be restricted to non-residents and foreigners only and against payment of the appropriate license fee and betting tax.

And fifth, a non-citizen purchasing a residential property for an amount less than USD 500, 000 shall be liable to a Multi-Entry Visa for a maximum of 180 days per year for a consecutive period of 5 years renewable.