Aims to make 2023 a great year for travel and tourism
Mauritius is keen to get back to pre-pandemic level of tourism in 2023 and wants India, one of its key source markets, to help it achieve full recovery this year. This was revealed by Louis Steven Obeegadoo, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Government of Mauritius, at the recently concluded SATTE 2023 in Delhi NCR. Obeegadoo is also the Vice President of the Executive Board of United Nation World Tourism Organisation.
Expressing his delight that his first visit to India as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism is on the occasion of SATTE, he said, “This is indeed symbolic. It is symbolic that we are here today celebrating not just the recovery, but the recovery of regional, of south-to-south tourism. We have here South East Asia. And of course, we are in India in South Asia. From the Indian Ocean, we have Maldives and Mauritius, also Saudi Arabia from West Asia. Regional tourism is key to recovery of tourism. We have great things to achieve together.”
Furthermore, highlighting the shared culture and “bond of fraternity” the Deputy Prime Minister said, “We are of common descent. We share culture. We share language. The bond between us indeed is very strong. We also share geography of Common Ocean, of common time zone, and in terms of politics, diplomacy and economics, ours is indeed a special relationship. No wonder that Mauritius is known as little India in the Indian ocean, and my purpose to coming here is that we can ensure this special relationship into tourism so that numbers of Indians crossing the Indian ocean to the island Mauritius and also the number of Mauritians visiting India keep increasing to make a full recovery in 2023 and to go far beyond in years to come. Mauritius is the second home to Indians and I need not tell you, the professional of travel and tourism, what Mauritius has to offer quite beyond its assets as costal and marine destination.”
Besides its popular offerings in the sun and sand space, the Tourism Minister also highlighted Mauritius’s attractiveness in sports tourism, golf, as a destination for MICE activities, weddings and adventure tourism as Mauritius open up the interiors of its island to allow tourists to discover its pristine forests, lakes, rivers, hills, nature and more. “We are intent this year on further developing historical and cultural tourism in Mauritius. My message that I was to convey is that Mauritius is open! Mauritius opens its arms and hearts to welcome Indians and all the participants at SATTE,” he said.
Mauritius received 1,383,488 international visitors in 2019, recording a slight dip (1.1 per cent) over the visitor numbers in 2018 when arrival reached 1,399,408. Indian arrivals had also tanked from over 85,765 visitors in 2018 to 75,673 visitors in 2019. However, the destination is expected to record significant recovery and may register its best year in Indian arrivals riding on its market development activities in India as well as significant growth seen recently in air capacity between the two destinations. Air Mauritius is already operating from Mumbai and by May 3rd will start twice-weekly direct Delhi flights. Another shot in the arm is Vistara latest addition of Mauritius on its route network with five weekly on Mumbai-Mauritius route. Vistara alone has brought an additional capacity of over one thousand seats every week on the Mumbai-Mauritius route.
Commenting in his capacity as the Vice President of the Executive Board of UNWTO, Obeegadoo highlighted the “remarkable recovery of tourism.” He said, “We all are entitled to celebrate the past year 2022 as a great year of recovery and rebuilding for tourism. Despite the global economic uncertainty, the willingness, the desire, the appetite for travel is still here, and I am convinced that together using the springboard of SATTE we are going to make 2023 a great year for travel and tourism. Of course our times are troubled times, and challenges are many, the challenge of war. Tourism is people to people diplomacy. This is where people meet and we learn to make friends, we learn to know and respect each other. So tourism has important part to play. Also, tourism has a key role to play as we rebuild in a sustainable manner, as we create ecotourism, inclusive and equitable tourism. Tourism of tomorrow is tourism of the future.”
