Mauritius Tourism has witnessed a stagnant growth from Jan to Aug, 2019 compared to previous year with 52,550 Indian arrivals. The destination has witnessed a slowdown in the MICE segment from India market.
“The growth has been flat for Mauritius Tourism this year. There have been various reasons for this stagnant growth: the airfares have been very high and there has been a slowdown in the economy. There has been a big hit to sectors like real estate and auto sector which further impacts many sectors. MICE groups from all these sectors have disappeared. MICE tourism from India to Mauritius has taken a big hit. FIT is still growing and has done well,” Vivek Anand, Country Manager-India, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), said,
The issue of air connectivity will be eased as Air Mauritius is introducing the third flight from New Delhi in November 2019. Moreover, the airline has also lowered the air fare. MTPA has also announced attractive incentive schemes to reinstate the MICE segment.
“In terms of strategy to further spur demands, Air Mauritius has reduced the air fares for some time. They are also augmenting the supply by introducing its third flight from New Delhi. We are also promoting Golf Tourism in a big way. Golf is a very big segment for us and we are seeing growth for this segment from India market. We have come up with a lot of attractive MICE incentives. We offer VAT refund for a group of more than 100 travellers staying for over three days in Mauritius. The VAT in Mauritius is 15 per cent, which is a good amount.”
Mauritius has also been promoting the weddings and the luxury segment in India for the last few years. The destination has seen a steady growth in luxury segment from India. “We have also promoted the weddings segment in India for a while now. The growth in this segment is once again stagnant due to similar reasons like high air fares, availability of seats. Also, fewer big weddings are happening in India now due to the slowdown in the economy. We have also been promoting the HNI segment and luxury segment for the last five years. This segment has been steadily growing. The Golf tourism is also a part of this segment which will further increase luxury tourist numbers,” Anand said.
One infrastructure front, Mauritius is set to witness more accommodation options with new properties set to open as well as metro connectivity.
“We are promoting all the activities and products in the India market. We showcase our classic products which can be customised to suit the travellers. We have some activities for every segment. We are now getting a lot of new hotels which will provide various new accommodation options. We also have some villas for rent, which is on a smaller scale. Also, in the beginning of October the first line of the metro will start in Mauritius. This will further provide ease of connectivity,” he informed.
