Mauritius expanding its tourism industry

Mauritius is aiming for 10 percent annual growth of its tourism industry by boosting marketing and opening up its skies to attract more airlines.

The Indian Ocean island relies heavily on tourism for foreign revenue as more than 700 000 visitors flock to its palm-fringed beaches and turquoise lagoons every year. Tourism Minister Xavier Luc Duval said the government had doubled the tourism promotion budget to $10-million and had changed its air access policy to help bring in more tourism revenue and offset losses in other traditional sectors.

Mauritius registered year-on-year increases of 18 percent and 16,8 percent in tourist arrivals in January and February, respectively. Duval said that allowing more airlines would increase passenger capacity during peak periods and create healthy competition for the national carrier, Air Mauritius .

"We want to increase competition as it will bring better services and better fares, and we will have three new airlines come to Mauritius this year," he said.

South Africa's Comair, France's Corsair and an Indian airline, possibly Air India, are expected to begin operations later this year. Duval said Mauritius, whose main markets are France and Britain, also wanted to tap emerging markets and sees strong potential for visitors from Russia, Australia and India.