Tourism indicators for the first nine months of 2021 are turning red.
For the period from January to February, the number of tourists visiting Mauritius was 9,460, compared to 305,612 during the same period last year. According to Statistics Mauritius, this represents a decrease of 96.9%.
In the first nine months of 2021, while tourist arrivals in Mauritius fell by 96.9% compared to the first nine months of 2020, growths were observed for the Maldives (+111.5%) and the Seychelles (+14.5%). In contrast, Sri Lanka experienced a 92.5% decline in tourist arrivals, says Statistics Mauritius in its report “International Travel and Tourism: January to September 2021”, published on Friday 26 November 2021.
Employment in food services, hotels and travel and other service establishments with ten or more workers fell by 13.6% to 27,858 in March 2021, compared with 32,253 in March 2020.
Tourism revenues also declined by 84.6%. They are estimated at Rs2.6 billion, from January to September 2021, against Rs 16.9 billion, between January and September 2020.
Among the 60 large hotels (more than 80 rooms) registered in September 2021, 6 were under renovation, 15 were converted into quarantine centers, and the remaining 45 hotels had a capacity of 8,243 rooms, and 19,311 beds. These “large” hotels represent 49% of all licensed hotels in operation, but account for 76% of total room capacity and 78% of total bed spaces.
In the first nine months of 2021, the room occupancy rate for “large” hotels was 10%, lower than the 26% recorded in the first nine months of 2020; the bed occupancy rate was 8%, lower than the 23% recorded in the first nine months of 2020.
8,919 tourists arrived by air between January and September 2021, compared to 276,130 during the same period last year, a decrease of 96.8%. Those arriving by sea decreased by 98.2%, from 29,482 from January to September last year, to 541 this year.
The number of excursionists (arrivals and departures on the same day) decreased by 99.6%, from 6,641 to 28. “In the first nine months of 2021, no cruise ships arrived in the country,” Statistics Mauritius points out.
During the first nine months of 2021, France, our leading tourist generating country, recorded a 97.5% decrease of 76,833 tourist arrivals compared to the period January to September 2020.
Declines were also observed among the main markets as follows:
Reunion Island (-99.4%), Italy (-99.0%), Germany (-98.9%), Republic of South Africa (-98.8%), India (-94.3%), United Kingdom (-94.0%), Italy (-99%), Switzerland (-98.1%), and Austria (-99.3%).
Statistics Mauritius also noted that during the first nine months of 2021, 78.2% of French tourists, and 52.8% of English tourists, arrived by direct flights from their own country of residence. In contrast, German, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, Russian and Austrian tourists traveled mainly through the United Arab Emirates and France, which were the most frequented transit ports.
According to Statistics Mauritius, for the first nine months of 2021, the proportion of Australian, Swiss, and German tourists who traveled to Mauritius via the United Arab Emirates were 81.1%, 61.4%, and 47.7%, respectively, while the proportion of tourists from the Netherlands, Italy, and the Russian Federation who traveled to Mauritius via France were 80.0%, 57.9%, and 41.7%, respectively.
