Tourism leap
About 980,000 tourists are expected this year in Mauritius, compared to 934,000 in 2010, which will be an increase of 4.8%, according to a bulletin released yesterday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
According to the bulletin, 262,626 tourists visited the island during the first quarter of this year, against 249,971 during the same period in 2010 – 5.1% higher.
During the first quarter of 2011, 176,460 tourists came from Europe, including 92,097 from France, which is the biggest tourism market for the island. African tourists who visited Mauritius during this period were 61,054 in number, while 36,707 tourists came from the island of Reunion and 17,684 from South Africa.
Other African tourists came from the Comoros, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and the Seychelles. For the Asian market, the flow of tourists from India increased by 33.4% to hit 10,904. Other Asian tourists came from Malaysia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and Japan.
