Mauritius says 2012 tourist arrivals to rise 3% to 1 m

PORT LOUIS (Reuters): Mauritius said that it expected the number of tourists visiting the Indian Ocean island to rise 3.1 per cent in 2012 as it aims to attract new Asian visitors to its white beaches and luxury spas.

The country’s central statistics office, Statistic Mauritius, said in a statement that, based on arrivals data and information from the industry, it had maintained its arrivals forecast for 2011 at 980,000 visitors.

Tourism typically generates about 10 per cent of gross domestic product for Mauritius’ $11 billion economy with European tourists accounting for some two-thirds of arrivals.

“Tourist arrivals in 2012 are forecast to be around 1,010,000, representing an increase of 3.1 per cent over 2011,” the statistics office said.

Finance minister, Xavier Duval, said in his budget speech this month that more funds would be made available for an aggressive international marketing campaign. Mauritius wants to tap new markets, especially in Asia.

Statistics Mauritius said that tourist arrivals from the Asian market for the nine months to September increased by 21.5 per cent to reach 66,950. Arrivals from Europe -- already a key market for Mauritius -- increased by 1.5 per cent to 421,060.

The Indian Ocean island’s tourism revenue for 2012 is forecast at around 44.5 billion rupees ($1.53 billion), up 4.7 per cent on the 42.5 billion rupees expected this year.

Statistics Mauritius said tourist arrivals were up 4.3 per cent at 674,383 in the nine months to September compared with the same period last year.

It said the average room occupancy rate for all hotels for the first nine months was unchanged from 2010 at 63 per cent.

Mauritius has 115 registered hotels, with 11,816 rooms and 24,018 beds. ($1 = 29.1000 Mauritius rupees)