Africa-Press – Mauritius. Mauritius’ deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, Louis Steven Obeegadoo, gave a keynote speech to global travel industry professionals to mark the return of tourism to the island.
A tourism industry networking event took place today (November 17) at Le Meridien hotel, Mauritius, to mark the reopening of the country’s borders to tourists on October 1.
Against the backdrop of a 1km-long, white-sand beach, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism Louis Steven Obeegadoo thanked travel industry professionals from across Europe, India, South Africa, Kenya and Saudi Arabia (among others) for their “efforts to relaunch Mauritian tourism around the world” as the destination reopens to travel.
He described the past 18 months as ‘self-isolation’ for the whole of Mauritius, which ‘chose to close its borders with minimum contact with the outside world’.
Although the minister recognised the ‘very high price’ of closing the borders, he stressed that the travel industry there has been protected, with no major hotel closures and no significant redundancies.
In a normal year, Mauritius welcomes over one million tourists (reaching a peak of 1.3 million from 2018-19). This year, the Mauritian government has set a target of welcoming 650,000 tourists over the next nine months (300,000 of which should come by mid-January 2022).
It seems to be on track, having welcomed 90,000 tourists since opening in October (43 per cent of the October 2019 figures). 18 airlines are currently flying to Mauritius, compared to 21 in 2019.
“We’re getting very quickly back to where we were pre-Covid and it’s just been six weeks since we opened the borders,” he said.
According to Obeegadoo, the reason behind this is the safety of the island in terms of Covid prevention – despite the fact that there’s been a sharp increase in Covid cases on the island over the past three weeks, leading to the reinstatement of restrictions (masks must be worn indoors at all times, Covid passes are needed for certain events and indoor spaces, and social gatherings are limited to 50 people).

“It’s possible to be in a vaccinated bubble for your entire holiday in Mauritius,” said Obeegadoo, noting that 89 per cent of Mauritian citizens are fully vaccinated and it’s a requirement for those working in tourism there, so the resorts operate as a bubble.
“There are few countries in the world that can offer such sanitary conditions,” he added. Minister Obeegadoo also spoke of the importance of rebuilding a post-Covid tourism industry that’s inclusive and green-oriented, but above all safe.
“Covid has brought the tourism industry to its knees, but we must make of it an opportunity,” he said.
“We need to make tourism a safe experience in the time of Covid, so tourists from Europe can feel that going abroad is as safe, or more safe, than being at home. We have worked very hard to make Mauritius a safe destination.”
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