Investing in Mauritius Property Investing in Mauritius Property | Page 16

HOTELS
Mauritius experienced another year of record tourism
arrivals in 2017, allowing the country to record
positive hotel operating performance, according to
data from the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority.
The island country outperformed official predictions
last year, attracting more than 1.34 million tourists.
In response, occupancy rates rose 9.3 percent last
year from the 8.9 percent recorded in 2016 while
ADR grew 8.4 percent. RevPAR increased 12.1
percent, compared to the previous year. “Mauritius’
continued and sustained tourism trends can be
attributed to a number of factors,” Hubert Golay, VP
of international hospitality real estate and leisure
consulting firm HTI Consulting, said in a statement.
“Increased air access is undoubtedly one of these as,
over the past few years, we’ve witnessed a number
of key international airlines either introducing new
flights, increasing their number of flights per week
or bolstering capacities on existing flights to the
island.”
Other drivers of tourism growth in Mauritius can to
be attributed to several initiatives by the country’s
government and tourism authorities in the past few
years, particularly government efforts to promote
economic diversification, a favorable business
climate and solid infrastructure. “Mauritius is also
widely regarded as a safe destination and, as such,
has gained popularity as several other destinations
have unfortunately suffered losses in arrivals due to
safety and terrorism concerns,” Golay said.
Investors have been attracted to Mauritius due to
the island’s mature, safe environment, established
resort tourism offerings and stable government
and economy. European and Middle Eastern
investors along with institutional investors often
prefer Mauritius and the nearby Seychelles over
continental Africa for these reasons. “Tourism has
made an important contribution to this stability and,
with the improving global economy and the country
carving out a new future tourism economy based
on innovation, the country should sustain positive
tourism numbers well into the future,” Golay said.
In recent years Mauritius has had the strongest hotel
market of Africa countriesn, with a 12.7% increase in
room revenue in 2017 and 38% cumulative growth
since 2014. Mauritius has had a strong, steady
economy and relatively low inflation and remains a