“The number of rooms has increased 15 percent since 2007,” Kwok, who leads the Association des Hoteliers et Restaurateurs de l’Ile Maurice, said in a transcript of an interview in l’Express newspaper. “Air seats to Mauritius have decreased by more than 2 percent.”
Tourism, with textiles, is the Indian Ocean island nation’s largest earners of foreign currency, data from Statistics Mauritius show. Europe, led by France, is the main source of tourist arrivals for the country. New Mauritius Hotels Ltd., Sun Resorts Ltd., and Naiade Resorts Ltd. are the biggest leisure operators by market value.
The occupancy rate in 2011 will be about 65 percent, Kwok said, below the profit-making threshold of “numerous hotels.”