The Covid 19 crisis has increased the average length of stay of tourists, but has considerably reduced the number of arrivals.
The tourism figures released by Statistics Mauritius on Friday, namely “International Travel and Tourism, 1st semester 2021”, show that the tourism industry has been hit hard during the first six months of this year.
Indeed, the number of tourist arrivals in the first six months of 2021 is down by 98.9% compared to the first six months of 2020. 304,881 tourists visited our island last year between January and June, compared to only 3,225 tourists this year. The number of tourist nights has fallen from 4,085,138 last year, between January and June, to 299,804 for the first six months of 2021.
As for tourism receipts, they have fallen from Rs 16,083 million in the first half of 2020 to only Rs 96.4 million for the first half of 2021. This is equivalent to a 96.4% drop in tourism receipts this year. Needless to say, the containment effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, which resulted in the closure of our borders, have had a significant impact on our tourism revenues.
A tourist, who spent an average of Rs 52,752 on his stay in Mauritius in 2020, would now have spent Rs 179,225 in 2021. Compared to the first half of 2020 when each tourist spent 11.6 nights on average, the average length of stay of a tourist has increased to 92.2 nights in 2021.
Tourist arrivals by country
According to Statistics Mauritius, tourist arrivals from our main tourist markets in the first half of 2021 are as follows: France (601 tourists or 18.6% of tourists visiting Mauritius), the United Kingdom (87 tourists or 2.7% of tourist arrivals), Reunion (51 arrivals or 1.6% of arrivals) and Italy (45 arrivals or 1.4% of arrivals).
In the first half of 2021, the number of tourists aged 60 years and above was 358, representing 11.1% of tourist arrivals over the period, Statistics Mauritius noted.
As for tourist arrivals in other Indian Ocean countries, Statistics Mauritius noted a decline in arrivals per month in the Seychelles (-43.4%) and Sri Lanka (-96.7%) while the Maldives saw a 30% increase in arrivals.
Tourism employment data shows an increase of 3.3% between March 2019 and March 2020, according to Statistics Mauritius.
As of 30 June 2021, 60 ‘large’ hotels with more than 80 rooms are registered in Mauritius, of which 6 have been temporarily closed for renovation, and 15 hotels have been used as quarantine centres.
Tourism figures are expected to change with the opening of the borders to Mauritius.
