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President of the Association of hotelkeepers and restaurant owners
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President of the Association of hotelkeepers and restaurant owners
<B>Dan Bundhoo</B>
In terms of growth in tourist arrivals, June 2005 has been the best month of June since 2001. How do you explain this increase?</B>
The number of arrivals in June is generally quite low compared to other months. An increase by 10.7% is very good for the tourism sector and for our country, but it doesn’t say if the increase of 8 to 10% planned for year 2005 will be reached.
I think this raise is the result of promotional initiatives, but there may be other circumstances that we won’t be able to analyse for a while.
<B>Have the promotional campaigns for low periods succeeded in attracting tourists?</B>
Definitely not! The government had very good intentions and several plans for the development of tourism, but the practical measures haven’t followed.
<B> Can we look forward to a good year in 2005 thanks to the June statistics?</B>
It would be neither cautious nor judicious to make forecasts, because there can be a lot of unexpected events before the end of the year.
The real question is: what should we do to get a maximum of tourists?
<B>Why do we have to liberalise air access?</B>
It’s not a choice but a need. We won’t survive without this liberalisation. It’s just like the hotel-keepers’ situation: they are optimistic and confident about the Mauritian hotel business, so private investments will continue.
<B>Tourism agencies say that air tickets are already inexpensive, and there is enough capacity: what is your reaction?</B>
If a person wants to take a flight on a specific date and can’t find a flight, he/she will choose another destination, like the Maldives. We must be able to say: “Yes, come to Mauritius” instead of asking the person to wait for a few days or a few weeks.
Do we have to revise the promotion method for Mauritius, to attract new types of tourists? </B>
Absolutely! We have the competencies but, at the moment, the practical measures are not in place. We have a high-quality product, but we need to see what else we can pull out from our traditional reservoir. We have to transform and improve our marketing strategy.
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