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Mauritius, a dream destination for travelers, is going to launch aggressive campaign to attract more tourists from the Middle East, said Michael Sik Yuen, minister of tourism and leisure for Mauritius.
“We have plans to promote Mauritius’ many attractions in the key Middle East markets like ��������, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE,” he told Arab News.
“Currently, we have 30,000 hotel rooms to accommodate guests and 65 percent to 70 percent are always full,” said the minister.
“With the support of Emirates Airlines, we are going increase the number of tourists from the region. We have been receiving a good number of visitors from European countries and now we want to tap GCC market,” he said.
On visa formalities, he said GCC citizens do not need a visa to visit Mauritius, and other nationalities with GCC resident visa also can enter the country.
“Our country is not only a beach destination, we have many attractions and facilities like diving, cyclo-tourism, sky diving, spas and wellness, green tourism, honeymoon packages, golf, deep sea fishing, dolphin watching, kite surf, sea excursions, cruise, shopping etc”, he said.
Orhan Abbas, Emirates’ senior vice president, commercial operations, Latin America, Central and Southern Africa, said: “The island of Mauritius is a vibrant country and constitutes an important destination amidst our global network.”
He said: “We strongly believe in its potential and our regular increases in frequencies on this route, plus the introduction of a daily A380 service, demonstrate that our promotion strategy is the right one and is bringing concrete results.”
Karl Mootoosamy, director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), told Arab News that the Middle East is a market of utmost importance for Mauritius tourism industry.
“We are going to open a new tourism office in Dubai by the end of this month,” he added.
He said his country received 12000 GCC citizens last year and now they are planning to invite some influential tourists from �������� to introduce his country.
“With the support of Emirates airline and tour operators, the number of tourist arrivals is continuously increasing,” said Mootoosamy.
“We have doubled our efforts on the Middle East market and this year we are expecting an increase of 25 percent in terms of tourist arrivals,” he said.
“Our marketing campaigns will focus mainly on the island’s luxurious hotels, golf courses, spas and the main cultural attractions of the country,” said Mootoosamy.