Published in MTimes, 27 Sep 2018
The Director General of IATA recommends that we lower our ticket taxes and airport charges. We are classified 116th by World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report in terms of competitiveness in ticket taxes and airport charges.
In reply, the Minister of Tourism argues that "nous devons rester upmarket. Nous ne voulons pas devenir une destination bon marché et avoir des touristes sac-à-dos à Maurice."
This is an argument that we have been using years back; when the sector was facing the global downturn, it responded with all-inclusive packages and aggressive campaigns targeting the Chinese and Indian, including British-Indian tourists. Was it a sell-out of our “upmarket” standards? At that time there was no question of “touristes sac-à-dos”. Nou ti dan bez!!!
Now that the growth of international travel has picked up, we go back to business as usual. No, because the changing nature and volatility of the tourism industry, the increasing number of air links, the bulging affluence in emerging markets, and the general technological improvements in global travel have changed the profile of tourists as well as the demands on the destination. The sector and its parameters have been redefined. Our market now has many segments, besides enclave or beach-based tourism, which are offering enormous possibilities to revitalize the agricultural and rural economy, support the sustainable development of rural areas, develop community-based tourism with a cultural content, agricultural tourism, family owned hotels, guest houses, eco accommodation, traditional organic and authentic products and Mauritian cuisine, environmentally friendly hotels, green holidays, sports clubs providing services.
While our minister is hanging diffidently to its upmarket segment, a new tourism is emerging -- sustainable, environmentally and socially responsible, and characterised by flexibility and choice. A new type of tourist is driving it: more educated, experienced, independent, conservation-minded, respectful of cultures, and insistent on value for money. To remain competitive, tourism destinations and industry players alike must adapt. And our challenge is to formulate the sector policies that best reflect these changes and the new thinking that the benefits from tourism activities should be spread to all segments and more evenly throughout the society.
Different segments have different things to offer. Lower ticket taxes will be profitable to all segments in the sector. Policy orientations should not be decided by the corporates but be based on the profile of our tourists and the characteristics of our market.
