Mauritius remains a destination favoured by Europeans and South Africans

Since the end of the pandemic and the ease on travel restrictions worldwide, tourism has picked up globally. While 2022 has been a satisfying year, 2023 is set to be remarkable in terms of growth. Already, according to the UNWTO, “an estimated 700 million tourists travelled internationally between January and July 2023, about 43% more than in the same months of 2022, though 16% fewer than in 2019.” The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer projects “international tourism [to be] well on track to reach 80% to 95% of pre-pandemic levels in 2023.”

Statistics Mauritius highlights that, compared to 2021, in year 2022, the total passenger arrivals increased from 246,260 to 1,327,382, within which total tourist arrivals increased from 179,780 to 997,290. In addition, it notes that the number of excursio- nists (arriving and leaving on the same day), amongst which 1786 are from cruise ships, increased from 535 to 5,851.

Tourists mainly arrived from the following countries: France (238,864), United Kingdom (140,847), Germany (96,767), Republic of South Africa (96,316), Reunion Island (73,336), India (36,956), Switzerland (28,350) and Italy (23,035). On a regional aspect, while Maldives still attracts a high percentage of tourists, still Mauritius has already picked up the pace over Seychelles.

For the tourism sector, nine out of the ten top performers have renewed with both a soaring turnover and positive profit before tax. The influx of foreign currencies coupled to the depreciation of the Mauritian rupee has boosted the recovery in the sector.

Rogers Hospitality has recovered from Rs 1.1 Bn loss in 2021, while Constance Hotel Services have recovered from a loss of Rs 738 M. As for Attitude Hotels, the Group is still recovering from losses of Rs 715 M in 2021 and which have dropped down toRs 27 M in 2022. On the positive side, Attitude Hotel and Subsidiaries have renewed with a turnover of over Rs 1.1 Bn compared to a turnover of Rs 154 M in 2021. Despite this financial situation, it is interesting to note that the Group has been elected “Best Place to Work” in 2022 for the category of companies above 50 employees.

The end of the travel restrictions has led to the boost of cruise activity and the recruitment of trained bilingual staff who are offered attractive salaries and travel oppor- tunities. As activity resumes, the Mauritian hotel industry has to tackle and overcome this challenge of qualified employee retention, a major concern with regards to the quality of service to tourists.

As for the top performers, New Mauritius Hotels Ltd announces a turnover of over Rs 14 Bn (+74 %) with profit before tax rising up to Rs 2.8 Bn. Following close, Lux Island Resorts Ltd has reached a comfortable Rs 8.3 Bn turnover and PBT of Rs 1.7 Bn. Third in ranking, Sun Resorts has nearly doubled its turnover to Rs 8 Bn and further increased its PBT to Rs 1.5 Bn from Rs 200 M in 2021.