Recession-fatigued agents looking for a weekend pick-up should take heart in the news that, if Mauritius is anything to go by, the long-haul luxury holiday is back.
The white sand, crystal sea destination is anticipating higher visitor numbers for the island, traditionally one of Africa’s strongest tourist markets, based on island stakeholder feedback so far.
The country’s Central Statistics Office says tourist arrivals for 2010 will be around 915,000, which is a 5% increase on 2009’s figure 871,356. Tourism annual revenue is forecast at 40.1 billion rupees, up more than 12% on the 35.6 billion that tourism brought in in 2009.
Last year arrivals fell 4.7% from Europe, the Germans staying away in droves with a 16.6% decline while 5.5% less Brits travelled to the destination. Asian and Indian arrivals fell by 14.6% and 1.6%.
