Mauritius eyes more Indian tourists; organises road shows

Ahmedabad, Aug 23 (PTI) With increasing numbers of Indiantourists visiting Mauritius, the island nation is promotingitself as an affordable luxury tourist destination with focuson wedding and golf. Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) is organisingroad shows in major Indian cities to attract travellers to theisland nation in the Indian Ocean known for its beaches,lagoons and reefs. "There has been a nearly 40 per cent jump in tourists fromIndia in July compared to the same month last year. Between2014 and 2015, we registered 20 per cent increase in Indiantourist arrivals," said Kevin Ramkaloan, MTPA Director. Nearly 1.15 million tourists visited Mauritius in 2015, ofwhich 72,000 were Indians, he said. "We are organising road shows to promote tourism infive major cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai andAhmedabad. We are having our first road show in Ahmedabad.Gujaratis, especially those in HNI segment, visit Mauritius inlarge numbers, but we are now promoting it as an affordableluxury destination," Ramkaloan said. The visa-on-arrival facility for tourists, started a fewyears ago, has boosted tourist inflows, he said, addingincrease in the number of flights and ratings of hotels havebeen undertaken to help sightseers. The island nation has started multi-course golf cardservice for tourists. This allows a card holding tourist touse international standard golf courses in Mauritius, he said. "We are also promoting Mauritius as a wedding destination.Already this year there have been six big-fat Indian weddings.Our effort is to promote the country as an attraction-baseddestination rather than hotel-based, and a destination thatoffers affordable luxury," Ramkaloan said. PTI KA PD RSYDBSJMF