Mauritius eyes Indian hotels

In order to tap the hospitality industry in Mauritius, major Indian hotel chains are aggressively setting up hotels in the country.

According to Vijaye Haulder, deputy director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, about five major hospitality chains in India are in talks with the Mauritian government for getting land to build hotels. All these hotels are expected add about 1,500 rooms in the next three-four years.

ITC leased in about 20 acre land in Bel Ombre, Mauritius for a premium category hotel to be completed in the next 18 months.

Another Indian hotel group, Sagar hotel, which already runs two luxury hotels in Mauritius is planning another hotel spread over 20-acre in the country.

Some of the Indian hotel chains having presence in Mauritius include, Shanti Ananda, Taj and Oberoi.

Roughly, about 50,000 Indian tourists visit Mauritius every year, which is 5 per cent of the total tourist arrival in Mauritius.

This year, the country has set a target of attracting one million foreign tourists, and about 2 million tourists by 2015.

"There is a shortage of rooms in Mauritius, and every year we need to add about 1,000 rooms for the next 10 years to cope up with the demand," said Haulder.

This April, Air Mauritius would start operating weekly flights from Bangalore en-route its flight between Chennai and Bangalore, said Haulder.

"Over the last two years, the overall seat capacity of Air Mauritius flights operating in India, has gone up by 40 per cent, because the 767 aircraft was replaced by a Airbus 340," he said, adding, "the next logical step would be to start direct flight between Kolkata and Mauritius."