Road show of MTPA: Mauritius expects 20% increase in tourists' arrival from India

The Road show of Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) in five cities in India to attract travelers has received a wide coverage in the Indian media. 

“We are expecting around 1 million tourists in 2017, a growth of 20% compared to the arrivals in the previous year,” said Vivek Anand, Country Manager, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) India. Mauritius has recorded arrivals of 83,000 tourists from India in 2016 an increase of 15% compared to the arrivals in the previous year.  “We will be promoting Mauritius as destination beyond the beach. More and more travellers are planning to travel to Mauritius, an affordable luxury destination. We are getting enquiries from a few Indian weddings. Producers are also showing interest in shooting Bollywood movies in Mauritius,” he said. Vivek Anand said that the key objective of the road shows in India is to inform the travellers fraternity and support them in forging business relations with suppliers in Mauritius.

To a question, Anand replied that 50% of the tourists coming from India to Mauritius are mainly from western region, followed by 25% from northern part and 25% from South India. In addition to wedding and other events, Mauritius has become popular for Golf activities. Tourists can enjoy Golf at any of the championship level courses as the island nation has established itself as a globally-recognised destination for golf in the past decade, he said. Mauritius, located around 2,000 km off the southeast of Africa’s coast, offers adventure activities such as sky diving, seakarting, ziplining and submarine rides, he added.

Flights to Kolkata and Hyderabad

Mauritius plans to connect Kolkata and Hyderabad when its airline gets permission to operate in more Indian cities. “Kolkata and Hyderabad are the two new cities for which we plan connectivity. Currently, we are allowed only for four cities and we are flying from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai,” Air Mauritius manager, India and South Asia, Vinith G told PTI on Sunday. “So far we are unable to connect with these cities (Kolkata and Hyderabad) due to bilateral restrictions and we are planning to initiate dialogue with India,” he said. Bilateral connectivity negotiations is held once in two years. Currently only Air Mauritius links Indian cities with the island country.