Francesco Frangialli (2007), “Tourism serves as a foothold for the development of a market ‎economy where small and medium-sized enterprises can expand and flourish.”

Recent actions taken to revisit the air access policy and to improve infrastructure and marketing have been helpful to boost the tourism sector. The contribution of “Hotels and restaurant” in GDP rose substantially from 8.5 % in 2006 to 9.4 % in 2007. In 2004, its share in GDP was only 7.4 %. At current level, output in this sector increased by 25.9 % from Rs 15.5 bn in 2006 to Rs 19.5 bn in 2007. In real terms, the growth rate was 13.1 % in 2007, second behind “Construction” which is itself dependent on hotel and IRS construction.

Investment in the hotel sector reached Rs 10.1 bn in 2007, 54.4 % higher than in 2006 . As a percentage to total investment, it rose from 10.6 % in 2005 to 14.8 % in 2006 and further up to 17.8 % in 2007. After a contraction in 2005, real growth rate in investment in hotels and restaurants rose sharply to +46.8 % in 2006. The momentum was maintained in 2007 with a growth rate of +39.2 %.

Direct employment is expected to be around 35,000 in 2007, 10 % higher than in 2006. But the contribution of the tourism sector in total employment is much higher when employment in auxiliary sectors such as tour operators, handicraft, tourists’ shops and so on is taken into consideration.

On the demand side, the target of 900,000 tourist arrivals in 2007 was surpassed. In fact, the total number of tourists grew by 15 % from 788,276 in 2006 to 906,971 in 2007. Gross earnings from this sector reached Rs 40.7 bn in 2007, 27.4 % higher than in 2006. In dollar terms, the rise in gross earnings was of the order of 26.6 %.

On the supply side, as at end of 2007 there were 97 hotels (excluding 5 not operational due to renovation works) compared to 98 in 2006. There was a slight rise in the number of rooms available from 10,666 in 2006 to 10,857 in 2007. The number of bed places also grew from 21,403 to 21,788.

The higher increase in the number of tourists compared to the increase in number of rooms resulted in an impressive rise in the room occupancy rate from 66 % in 2006 to 76 % in 2007. For large hotels only, the change was from 69 % to 78 %.

Arrivals from France grew substantially from 182,295 in 2006 to 240,028 in 2007. The second most important market was United Kingdom, which registered an increase in tourist arrivals from 103,333 to 107,297. A rise was also noted in the Reunion market from 89,127 to 95,823. The number of tourists from South Africa grew from 70,796 to 81,733.

The following countries also registered tourist arrivals above 40,000: Italy from 69,407 in 2006 to 69,510 in 2007, Germany from 57,251 to 65,165 and India from 37,498 to 42,974.

Overall, the above countries represented 77.5 % of the total tourist arrivals in 2007.

Tourism development strategy

In the Budget 2007/8, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development focussed on the importance of marketing promotion and further reform of air access. Government is developing a tourism strategy emphasising on coherent and effective steps for sustainable development, capacity building, promotion and marketing, planning and monitoring, efficient land use and proper environment assessment. Various projects have already been initiated:

(i) Opening of air access

An air access policy committee has been created to carefully plan this policy and allows a smooth liberalisation of air access.

(ii) Increasing marketing activities

An amount of Rs 300 m is earmarked for promotion campaigns and Rs 35 m for branding purposes. Promotional campaigns have been undertaken to increase the occupancy rates in hotels and attract visitors during low seasons. Events Mauritius Limited has also been created to organise special activities.

(iii) Cultural tourism

The concept of tourist villages is being developed to provide a holistic development of specific regions and improve the handicraft sector. Measures have also been taken to upgrade various well-visited locations.

Central Statistics Office: http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/cso

Ministry of Tourism, Leisure & External Communications: http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/tourist

Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority: http://www.tourism-mauritius.mu

Association des Hôteliers et Restaurateurs de l'île Maurice: http://www.mauritiustourism.org/home.htm