The Tourism sector is at its worse. And that, even before the Covid 19! After two Covid 19 waves, and the borders still closed till a unspecified date, no provision, and no forecast so far, the population can only have faith that this pillar of the economy will bloom again. Will today’s budget help to resurge the Tourism sector?
Javed Sobah
“It will take time to reach the nearly 1.4 million tourists and Rs 65 billion of forex that we earned in 2018. The year 2019 was sluggish and 2020 was catastrophic. The Ministry of Tourism should not come forward with a rehash in the new strategies to adopt for this critical pandemic era”, states Sen Ramsamy Director of Tourism Business Intelligence. According to his observations of past budgets and the persisting reality since Covid 19, only a handful of operators beneficiated from the government aids and solutions. He expects that during this budget, all the actors and para-hotel actors in the Tourism sector, which constitutes over a 120,000 employees are going to be taken into consideration.
Furthermore, Sen Ramsamy hopes that the Ministry of Tourism will rethink each aspect in the marketing concept of the island for the digital world, with an accent on proper standard sanitary measures. “We are no longer in the position to sell only Sea Sand and Sun concepts as we did in old times. The modern tourist needs more to be attracted since demands have varied over time. And other islands like Seychelles, Maldives, Caribbean Islands and even South Africa are offering better, where it has been accounted that a tourist can spend a minimum of 200 dollars per day there whereas in Mauritius they spend around 110 to 115 dollars. We need new visions, leaderships and strategies. I have proposed to the to the MTPA a well-established strategy to gain Rs 80 billion per year, ensuring hotels and planes to be at least full up to 75% all over the year” he reveals.
Prepare for the New Normals
For Lindsay Morvan, Director of the Tourism Authority “it would be best if all the budget measures axe over the New Normals for tomorrow’s Tourists, that is, general security including Covid 19 measures and emergencies and new experience of the tourist over the island”. Having as responsibility to the think about the Island as the Tourism Product and all the operators who are responsible to offer the pleasant experience to the tourist, he considers that there is a need for land and sea based improvements to higher up the level to attract better the traditional and emerging markets. He also expects that the concerning Ministry will motivate Long Term Tourism and favour the access to already vaccinated Tourists as soon as the borders open.
High hopes are placed in this afternoon’s budget for this particularly affected pillar of the Mauritian economy. Other operators have demanded the Ministry of Tourism for an extended period of Wage assistance scheme for hotel employees and operators and also bank loans with a preferential interest rate for hotel operators.
