According to the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), the country can expect to welcome between 30,000 and 35,000 visitors in October. It goes without saying that optimism is the watchword in the affairs of the Ministry of Tourism and Nilen Vencadasamy, President of the MTPA confirms that hard work has been the daily routine of the MTPA for the last 3 months. Although the focus is on consolidating existing markets, such as France and the United Kingdom among others, efforts are being invested in promising markets such as Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East. For him, the current global issues should not affect the positivity in the approach and he considers that the figure of 325,000 is not unrealistic. The main target being to reach 650,000 visitors by June 2022, he admits that the budget of Rs 420 million will be mainly injected in marketing, promotion, enhancement of the country and the rebranding of our destination for which the selection exercise of a consultant is underway. Much remains to be done… the exit of Air Mauritius from the administration represents a new opportunity for the President of the MTPA.
What are your feelings about the reopening of our borders?
We are ready! We have been preparing for this important date for months in close collaboration with the private sector. The first phase of the reopening allowed us to finalise the last details. This first phase consisted above all of testing the various protocols put in place to welcome visitors in the best possible health and safety conditions. For example, this allowed us to reduce the Resort Protocol from 14 to 7 days for vaccinated and PCR negative tourists. The signs are positive, so we are looking forward to welcoming our visitors with greater peace of mind.
What are your forecasts and expectations?
As announced by the Minister of Finance during the last budget exercise, our target is to welcome 650,000 tourists by June next year. We are confident that we will achieve this, even if in the current context forecasts are more complicated due to a lack of visibility on international travel. The global trend shows that travellers are booking more at the last minute. In Mauritius, during the recent weeks, the booking rate has been steadily increasing since the beginning of September, while the cancellation rate has been decreasing. Taking these figures into account, we expect to welcome 30,000 to 35,000 visitors in October. We are therefore expecting more arrivals in November and December, although it is more difficult to give you an exact forecast for this period at the moment.
We have had 7600 arrivals since the reopening. How many confirmed arrivals do you have and from where?
We can’t compare the figures of before October because with the strict protocol, it was obvious that we would not receive a large number of visitors. The first phase of opening was above all a test phase that allowed us to test our sanitary protocols. Since the beginning of the year, we have been pooling all our resources with the private sector for the final reopening of our borders in October.
We are finding that, as expected, our traditional markets, such as France and the UK, are the most responsive at present. In particular, we have seen a sharp increase in bookings from the UK over the last few weeks due to the decision of the UK authorities to include Mauritius on the “Clear To Travel” list.
This is not surprising, as all recent market studies show that tourists are more inclined to go to a destination they already know, trust and are used to. This does not prevent us from maintaining our efforts in promising new markets, such as Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East.
What sanitary measures are available for the tourist in free circulation and the Mauritian?
Moreover, the vaccination campaign for the population has exceeded all our expectations. To date, 66.74% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine, and 62.25% of the population is fully vaccinated. The number of vaccinated adults has reached over 86%. This has allowed us to look forward to this opening phase with great serenity.
As of today, we welcome travellers with vaccines without the need for quarantine. However, we still maintain a dose of caution with tests on arrival and self-tests on day 5.
Those, who are not vaccinated, will continue to undergo protocol quarantine in our Bubble Resorts, and will be tested multiple times before being allowed to leave.
In addition, the sanitary measures for tourists and Mauritians will remain more or less the same: wearing a mask, social distancing, use of hydroalcoholic gel, etc. The safety and health of the population as well as of visitors remains our absolute priority.
Will there be any places or zones not recommended to tourists?
Once authorised to visit the island, tourists will be subject to the same protocols as Mauritians. They will be able to travel wherever they wish, provided they respect the national health measures. We will recommend that they keep themselves informed of the health situation in the country on a daily basis throughout their stay, for example through our MyMauritius application, or the website www.mauritiusnow.com , or any other local media.
What major work has already begun? And what will be next?
In collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the private sector, we have launched a massive clean-up and nature awareness campaign throughout the country, called ‘Respekte Moris’. As everyone knows, littering is a real problem here. It is an eyesore that negatively influences the international perception of the country.
We have focused on the main tourist sites ahead of the reopening, but the campaign will continue thereafter, both to clean up the country and to educate Mauritians on the issue of waste disposal. The work continues, and will continue as long as necessary.
As for the hotels, the vast majority of them have carried out renovation and cleaning works in preparation for reopening. We do not have figures for bungalows, private villas, B&Bs, hostels and the likes, but they too are preparing the best they can, I have no doubt.
With a reduced fleet of Air Mauritius, fewer countries served and fewer of our GSA branches around the world, do you think you will be able to reach 325,000 tourists by the end of 2021?
It is true that we will not have full control over all the equations relating to current global issues. Serving the destination internationally, for example, will be a challenge, given the inherent uncertainties in the pandemic. We are aware of this, but we have taken all of this into account in setting our goal.
Despite this, we remain confident and positive. We did not choose October by chance for the reopening. This month marks the beginning of the high tourist season in Mauritius and traditionally, we welcome most of our visitors at this time. The figure of 325,000 is not unrealistic; it represents only a small portion of the number of tourists we used to welcome at the end of the year before the pandemic. But our real target is 625,000 arrivals by June 2022.
The exit of Air Mauritius from administration is a breath of fresh air in this context. We are already working closely with MK’s marketing team.
The government’s target is to reach 650,000 tourists by the end of this financial year. How is the marketing campaign going? And the digitalization campaign?
We have been working hard over the last few months with the help of marketing technicians from the private sector, in order to “sell” the destination as well as possible internationally, as much to the Tour Operators of our traditional markets as to the airlines and all our partners, but also online. I remind you that traditionally, more than 70% of our tourist arrivals come from TOs.
The digitalization campaign is now complete, and the new technological tools we have at our disposal allow us not only to better promote the destination online and on social networks, through our new showcase site MauritiusNow.com or our mobile application MyMauritius or our weekly electronic newsletter addressed to our local and international partners, among others, but also to offer private operators precise figures and statistics that allow them to make informed strategic decisions in the short and long term.
In this post-Covid world, the priority for travellers is health security. Mauritius has a significant advantage over its direct competitors in this respect, having been relatively spared by the virus, thanks to a quick and efficient response from the government. We are doing our utmost best to share as much information as possible on this subject, either directly online to potential visitors or to our international partners and TOs. We also rely on upcoming international tourism fairs.
Where is and will the budget of Rs 420 M allocated to the MTPA being and be injected?
The MTPA budget will be mainly allocated to various international marketing and promotional campaigns to enhance the destination. As I mentioned earlier, we are putting a lot of effort into this, both in preparation for the reopening of our borders and beyond. We have also set aside a budget for the rebranding of the destination, and the selection of a consultant is underway at this very moment.
