With the arrival of two new Eastern Europe airlines, Malev and Air Slovakia, tourists from this part of the world could well be keener on coming to Mauritius. Although they are considered as charters they are most welcome in Mauritius since they will attract the ?nouveaux riches? from this region to our small island, which they would never have thought of otherwise.

As a result, neither Air Mauritius nor any other stakeholder of the tourism industry has shown any reluctance to open the sky to these tourists. This is simply because charters are not inevitably low-cost airlines. Charters, in the case of Malev and Air Slovakia, only means that the plane is booked by a tour operator or a group of people. And the tickets are far from affordable by the ?economy-class? tourist.

Air Slovakia, chartered by Leonardo agency, has started serving Mauritius since 4th November while Hungarian Malev, chartered by tour operator Aeroviva, will land in Mauritius on 23rd December for the first time. In all, both airplanes will make 25 trips between Eastern Europe and Mauritius with one flight every ten days.

These regular flights from this region should make Mauritius more known there. There is a certain class of ?nouveaux riches?, emerging in Eastern Europe and these regular flights could unveil a new niche for Mauritian tourism.

This change in mentality is happening just in time to boost the tourism sector. Professionals of the sector do not wish to concentrate on classical markets, mainly in Western Europe, but are constantly searching for new ones like India and China? Eastern Europe could thus be one of these new revenue sources for the tourist sector.

Something special

New luxury hotels are being built everywhere on the island, new regions are being exploited and there is an urgent need to fill the rooms. Without these charters, those tourists, who have huge financial means and will be accommodated in top class hotels, would have preferred to go to countries like the Caribbean and would not have even thought of Mauritius.

For the moment, Eastern Europe is not important enough for Air Mauritius to serve it. But if the flights until March turn out to be profitable and make the way for other travelers from this region, Air Mauritius could well change its mind and start serving Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, such charter flights are fashionable these days and professionals of the tourist sector look more and more impatient to see their number increase. Because it is a fact that the wealthiest tourists are not looking for first-class tickets anymore. They intend to have more than that: something special and original on their flights.

This is not always possible when they book on commercial airlines. However, when tour operators charter a flight, they can do ?whatever they want? on the flight and give special service to their clients ? like lobster and caviar, for instance.

High-class tourism

Agencies can rent a plane for Rs 22,500 to Rs 150,000 depending on the type of clients they are catering for. If one has the financial means, one just has to go on the Internet and specify his/her needs. It takes less than five minutes.

If Mauritius has always thought that high-class tourism was the best way to sell the destination and has never been in favour of low-cost air tickets, it?s for just one reason. Although high-class tourism constitutes only 3% of the total number of tourists, they represent 20% of the tourist revenue worldwide. And if Mauritius has accepted that those two ?charter flights? serve Mauritius, it is certainly because charters are no longer considered a cheaper way of travel?