DRMumbai: Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority’s (MTPA) four-city India roadshow was held from August 30 to September 4 across New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Mumbai, and saw 26 suppliers (hotels and DMCs) from Mauritius interact with over 500 travel trade members. “India has been achieving double digit growth for the past four years,” said Arvind Bundhan, newly-appointed Director of MTPA. “This year we expect around 95,000 tourists coming from India, a 10 per cent growth over last year when we had about 86,000 arrivals.” Bundhan said that of the total number of Indians travelling to Mauritius, 12 per cent visit for MICE.
The island nation is a popular wedding destination for India but MTPA is aiming to draw travellers for adventure, sport and culture too
Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) is taking several initiatives to attract new traveller segments from India. Growing MICE business is the top priority for MTPA in the current fiscal. Vivek Anand, Country Manager, India, MTPA, said that apart from roadshows, workshops to keep travel agents updated about the latest product developments are being organised. In the last four years, MTPA India has undertaken 24 such educational workshops.
The main market continues to be Europe, especially France. India is an emerging market as the sustained GDP growth has contributed to an increase in arrivals from the sub-continent. “We want to position Mauritius as a ‘beyond beach’ destination,” says Bundhan. “The interiors of Mauritius are waiting to be explored. There are a lot of adventure activities to indulge in. Many luxury experiences like golf and horse racing may also be explored.”
This year MTPA is putting a lot of emphasis on growing the MICE market from India. The island nation is very active on the wedding market. “Last year we had 12 fat Indian weddings. The incentives segment is also doing well. In October, we have two teams from India – 250 and 500 pax – coming in to Mauritius.”
Air Mauritius flies five times from Mumbai, twice from Delhi and one flight each from Chennai and Bengaluru every week. During the peak season from May to September there is a daily flight from Mumbai. Indian travellers do not require a visa to enter Mauritius.
A target of 1,20,000 Indian arrivals has been set to be achieved by the end of 2020. Bundhan stated that Indians, on an average, spend around US$ 350 during their stay in Mauritius, with an average stay of six to seven nights. Mauritius prefers to promote itself as an affordable luxury destination and has hotels and convention halls which can host events and conferences for groups as large as 2000 pax.
Mauritius Film Promotion Authority is also working actively to attract potential film producers and directors from India by providing various incentive schemes.
