TravTalk India Online Magazine
Now that COVID restrictions have been completely removed with no limitation on the number of gatherings in Mauritius, its tourism board has a renewed focus to tap the MICE and wedding segments from India. To stimulate demand, it has also introduced an attractive incentive scheme for the segments.
TT Bureau
Arvind Bundhun, Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), was recently in India to promote the destination but also to introduce its new incentive programme for the MICE and the wedding segments. He says, “Mauritius opened its borders for tourists from October 1. We have now reached a milestone of attracting half a million tourists already. As of July 1, 2022, the government has reviewed the sanitary protocols, bearing in mind vaccination roll-out campaign is extremely successful and the rate of infection is really low, almost negligible. That brought us to the idea that the sanitary measures should be eased. We also no longer have a restriction on number of people gatherings. While we are promoting the entire island of Mauritius to different segments in India, our objective now is also to promote it to the MICE and wedding segment. We are here to announce the new MICE incentive we are now offering to the market in order to capture this segment and stimulate demand.”
The tourism board had recently conducted a roadshow in New Delhi. To encourage MICE movements in Mauritius, we are supporting VAT refund of 15% for groups of 50 persons or more, travelling together and staying for a minimum three nights in Mauritius. Moreover there is a plan to offer MICE cash incentive for group of minimum 50 pax traveling together in same flights. The incentives, which will be rolled out in a few days, will be worked out on a case to case basis. MTPA is also facilitating access to duty free shops for large wedding groups. We have few other incentives that are being worked upon.
Bundhun adds, “We have few weddings in pipeline – seven weddings already confirmed until December 2022. As from July, the vaccination status for visitors doesn’t hold any more. That means that whether they are vaccinated, or unvaccinated, they don’t have to do any tests prior to arrival, upon arrival. They just stay in Mauritius, and at the end of it, they just fly back. In case they are positive in the course of their stay they just have to self-isolate.”
In this calendar year from January to December, MTPA has an objective of attracting one million tourists bearing in mind that prior Covid, the destination used to welcome around 1.3 million tourists. “Pre-covid, the percentage of tourists which came from India was around 8%. And this year, as we re-open we expect to welcome around 70,000-80,000 Indians to Mauritius. It has been two months since India re-opened its borders to Mauritius completely. For the past two months, we have seen a certain pent up demand. Right now it’s extremely stimulating for us to see that the percentage of recovering is around 55 per cent,” he says.
Trade activities
He says that MTPA has activated all trade promotions, with presence at key trade shows in India. “The purpose of our visit is to stimulate the trade and we have been meeting all key tour operators. We have been engaging with them in joint marketing initiatives so that we stimulate demand for the destination. It is worth noting that for the past few years when we were closed to tourism, local operators supported by various grants offered by the government have been engaging in refurbishment projects. There are a lot of projects and hotels that have been refurbished, there are new properties that have opened. We also have 4-5 new projects in the pipeline,” Bundhun reveals. New attractions include Odysseo – the island nation’s first oceanarium which has just opened close to the capital in Port Louis.
Odysseo – the oceanarium
With its 5,500 square metre of visiting domains, the oceanarium will showcase some 45 different aquatic habitats comfortably hosted in 2000 cubic metre of pristine water. Visitors will encounter some 200 species (3,500 specimens at the opening) of the Indian Ocean. With Odysseo, the Mascarene region is ready to welcome its largest oceanarium ever and also the first of its kind in Mauritius!
