Mauritius tourism earnings up 15.6% in Q1

Reuters: Tourism revenues in Mauritius rose 15.6% in the first quarter to March compared to a year ago although arrivals were slightly lower, data showed this week.

“Gross tourism receipts for the first quarter of 2012 were estimated by the Bank of Mauritius at 13.81 billion rupees ($465.77 million)... compared to 11.94 billion estimated for the same period in 2011,” Statistics Mauritius said in a statement. It said 261,995 tourists visited the Indian Ocean island in the first three months of the year, slightly less than the 262,626 visitors a year ago. Statistics Mauritius maintained its forecast for 2012 even though arrivals from Europe, the country’s main market which accounts for two-thirds of visitors but which is suffering from a prolonged debt crisis, fell 5.1% in April.

The statistics board expected arrivals to grow 1.6% to 980,000 in 2012. Bank of Mauritius said tourism revenues would grow 0.8% to 43.17 billion rupees from 42.84 billion in 2011.

Tourism typically generates about 10% of gross domestic product for Mauritius’s $10 billion economy. ($1 = 29.6500 Mauritius rupees)