Valid or ?weird? proposals ?

There are quite a sizeable number of other specialists in the tourism industry who share the Tourism minister?s point of view on the DCDM report. Without being backed by substantial research and analysis and a thorough examination of the main determinants of competitiveness of the industry, DCDM summarily identifies the constraining factors as air seat access and high price, insufficient emphasis on tourism product diversification, lack of appropriate marketing and celebrity marketing.

But expenditure on celebrity marketing is minimal and, with the return journey London-Mauritius at a low of £350, the ample vacant seats are enough to neutralise the whole arguments and recommendations of DCDM on air access policy. So it must be due to the lack of appropriate marketing!!! Is it?

Have they carried out an assessment of promotion activities and strategies of the past five years? No, because it?s only now that Govern-ment is approaching the World Bank to, among others, evaluate the effectiveness of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority promotion campaigns. Or is it that we are pricing ourselves out of the market; on competitiveness of our product, including pricing policies, DCDM is vague.

Of course, it has to be vague for there is no substantive comparison with other tourist destinations on the basis of hotel price indices or tourism price competitiveness indices or any other meaningful indicators. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Mauritius? hotel price index (55.3), i.e. room rate per night, is one of the highest, compared to Maldives (33.6), South Africa (12.4) and Sri Lanka (21.6). As you see, the issue is much more complex than what is presented by the DCDM report. A more meaningful exercise would have been a complete review of the sector to discern the changing structure of the industry, the growth of regional tourism and in the low-to-middle segments of the market.

Perhaps such a study will recommend that we review our policies towards more liberal air access and more aggressive domestic development that converts not only Chama-rel but all villages into gîtes catering for low-to-middle segments with the plus value of major cascading effects on agriculture and rural economy.

Another suggestion could be bringing in charters and converting the whole of Mauritius into attractive tourist villages, which will by no means affect the traditional upper segment of tourism. On the other hand, this will provide new prospects for adding value and increasing revenue. This will reduce import bills as more will be consumed from domestic sources. This will be another way to democratize the tourism sector.

But, first, let us carry out the study and, meanwhile, all vow to remain within the bounds of professionalism. We should avoid amateurish comments like ?le ministère du Tourisme n?a jusqu?ici proposé aucune stratégie à long terme face aux grands défis?? The GM has framed its 20-year vision in the Tourism Development Plan for Mauritius. Amen.

Mark NATTAR