Mauritius: The key achievements in the tourism industry for the year 2022 were at the fore of a Press Conference today, at the Victoria Beachcomber Resort and Spa, in Pointe aux Piments.
The Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, and Minister of Tourism, Mr Louis Steven Obeegadoo, in the presence of other personalities, accordingly elaborated on the key elements that were implemented for the relaunch of the tourism industry since October 2021 till date.
At the outset, the Acting Prime Minister lauded the collaborative efforts of the public and private sectors as well as the vaccination campaign launched by the Government to limit the propagation of the COVID-19 virus. For him, this initiative has successfully helped in the recovery of the tourism sector and the Mauritian economy.
On this note, Mr Obeegadoo indicated that the number of tourist arrivals from October 2021 to November 2022 amounted to 1,027,455.
“The number of arrivals from January 2022 to November 2022 has reached 857,641, and I am confident that we will attain the goal of reaching the target of one million tourists arrivals by the end of the financial year 2022,” he stressed.
Acting Prime Minister Obeegadoo moreover emphasised the necessity to consolidate existing key markets such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany and enhance the country’s air connectivity through concerted actions of both the public and private sectors.
He thus spoke of measures implemented to encourage tourists from Reunion Island to visit Mauritius, including: travelling to Mauritius from Reunion Island without a passport since 19 September 2022; and resumption of flights from Pierrefonds.
He also highlighted that flights to Rodrigues Island had been resumed.
In addition, Mr Obeegadoo pointed out that the sector is steadily returning back to normal as the average spending per tourist and the length of stay in Mauritius have increased by 13.2% from 2019 to 2022.
He likewise underlined that it is high time to rethink ways to boost the tourism sector and added that three main recommendations have accordingly been formulated to ensure optimal conditions for the future of the tourism sector in Mauritius.
These are: Recognising the importance of tourism and how it acts as an engine for economic recovery and growth; Going beyond Tourism, that is, promoting tourism as an instrument to promote peace and inclusion and; Building back better by recognising the impact of climate change on tourism and structuring adaptation and mitigation measures accordingly.
The Acting Prime Minister further recalled that Mauritius has once again secured its position as a leading Indian Ocean destination by scooping three prestigious awards at the 2022 Travel Awards of the Indian Ocean region.
The awards were:
- Indian Ocean’s Leading Adventure Tourism Destination;
- Indian Ocean’s Leading Wedding Destination and;
- Indian Ocean’s Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination.
He expressed confidence that the sector will continue to improve steadily with positive recovery rates and emphasised that if this trend continues, the tourism industry will emerge stronger than before the pandemic.
