Mauritius expects 20% increase in tourists' arrival from India

The Dollar Business Bureau

Mauritius is expecting a growth of 20% in tourist arrival from India this year as the island nation on Tuesday started a road show in five cities in India to attract travellers.

The island nation recorded arrivals of 83,000 tourists from India in 2016 an increase of 15% compared to the arrivals in the previous year, according to Vivek Anand, Country Manager, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) India.

“We are expecting around 1,00,000 tourists in 2017, a growth of 20% compared to the arrivals in the previous year,” he said.

Tourists arrivals from Europe make up for 50% of the overall tourists to Mauritius, followed by Asian nations with 20% tourists arrival, he said, while adding that the share of India is 7%, and that has been increasing steadily.

“We will be promoting Mauritius as destination beyond the beach. More and more travellers are planning to travel to Mauritius, an affordable luxury destination. We are getting enquiries from a few Indian weddings. Producers are also showing interest in shooting Bollywood movies in Mauritius,” he said.

Anand said that the key objective of the road shows in India is to inform the travellers fraternity and support them in forging business relations with suppliers in Mauritius.

“The road show will be held in Hyderabad, Nagpur, Pune and Kolkata from February 27 to March 4,” he informed.

To a question, Anand replied that 50% of the tourists coming from India to Mauritius are mainly from western region, followed by 25% from northern part and 25% from South India.

In addition to wedding and other events, Mauritius has become popular for Golf activities. Tourists can enjoy Golf at any of the championship level courses as the island nation has established itself as a globally-recognised destination for golf in the past one decade, he said.

Mauritius, located around 2,000 km off the southeast of Africa’s coast, offers adventure activities such as sky diving, seakarting, ziplining and submarine rides, he added.

Spread across an area of 1,865 sq. km, out of that 330 km is the coastline, Mauritius provides visa on arrival for Indian citizens for upto 60 days.