If you’re done and dusted with The Maldives, Mauritius is now welcoming Indian travellers again
If you’re ready for a holiday in the sun, with nature, culture and amazing food thrown in, Mauritius is now welcoming both vaccinated and non-vaccinated travellers. Just keep this in mind though: you will need to make this a longish holiday.
As part of Phase 1 of the reopening of Mauritius’s birders, which ends September 30, 2021, vaccinated guests may stay in one of the 14 designated “resort bubbles” (COVID-19 safe hotels) on the Indian Ocean island, and may enjoy the facilities in their chosen hotel, which, no worries, include access to the beach and swimming pool.
Here’s where the longish holiday comes in: if guests stay for 14 days and test negative, they will then have the free run of the island nation, and its many attractions will entrance them as they have captivated so many before.
Visitors staying for less than 14 days will be restricted to their resort bubble, before they travel back home.
The certified COVID-19 safe hotels can be booked through tour operators, travel agents or directly with the accommodation. A mandatory PCR test will be conducted at the airport on your day of arrival, while PCR tests will also apply on day 17, and day 14 of your stay, depending on the length of your break, with a negative test result on day 14 giving you the freedom to explore.
Unvaccinated guests, on the other hand, must book a quarantine stay in an official quarantine hotel, which includes meals and transfers, and stay in said hotel room for 14 days. Meals will be delivered to your room. The same schedule of PCR testing applies – on the day of arrival, day 7 and day 14 – as for vaccinated travellers, and, again,a negative test result on day 14 will give you carte blanche to freely explore the island. You can also move into a new stay option at this point. We think short stays (less than 14 days) make no sense whatsoever for unvaccinated travellers at this point. (Get vaccinated, do!)
Mauritius aerial view
The reopening of Mauritius’s borders comes after a successful acceleration of the country’s vaccination programme. As international tourism is vital to the island nation’s economy, the government decided in January to include tourism workers and hotel staff as frontline workers to ensure visitors would be welcomed into a safe and secure environment.
“Mauritius is delighted to be welcoming international visitors into our safe and secure environment on the island,” said Hon Steven Obeegadoo, Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius and Minister of Tourism. “We are in a unique position to be able to allow international visitors, both vaccinated and non-vaccinated, to our resort bubbles and quarantine hotels before allowing guests to experience the island’s attractions. The safety and security of Mauritian citizens, residents, and those visiting the island is paramount and we are grateful to those who have cooperated throughout the pandemic to make this possible. The acceleration of our vaccination programme has enabled us to partially reopen our borders and we look forward to fully opening our borders in October.”
On October 1, 2021, as part of Phase 2 of the reopening, vaccinated visitors will be able to enter Mauritius without restrictions on presentation of a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours of departure.