Pauline Etienne
31 October 2007
Port Louis — With the coming weekend of four days, some hotels are offering special tariffs to Mauritians. Well, at least those who still have rooms available now that the season appears to be at its peak all year round
The number of tourist arrivals has kept increasing since the beginning of the year and most hotels have no free rooms.
The fine days of summer are showing up. Luckily enough, Mauritians will enjoy a long weekend with the public holidays on Thursday and Friday. Some hotels - those which still have a few rooms left - are offering special prices to local citizens during this period because they are well aware that people will look forward to a break on the beach.
However, with the boom in the hotel industry, it might be quite hard to find available hospitality at that time. "We've had a lot of requests but all our hotels are full," confirmed the reservation department of Veranda Resorts. This group, which has no less than six hotels over the island, has special tariffs for local residents and some "have taken advantage of them".
At Blue Lagoon Beach Resorts in Blue-Bay, there are still "a few rooms available" according to the hotel marketing manager, Hansley Nellacootee. The hotel has a special promotion for Mauritians and residents.
The All Saints Day Special - as they call it - is a full board offer, including a free massage or treatment, a free ride in the lagoon in a glass bottom boat without mentioning the usual activities and entertainment provided by the hotel.
The deal is Rs 4,600 for a double room for a minimum of two nights. If a family with two parents and two children share the same room, the second child does not pay.
"We are doing a niche marketing for Mauritians and residents. After all bookings of tour operators have been made, we propose special tariffs for locals on the remaining rooms," said the marketing manager. And the number of bookings he has received seems to have proved him right. "The response was really good and we have had quite a large number of requests from Mauritians."
Movenpick Resorts, which has a Mauritian tariff all year long - Rs 6,500 for a double room on a half-board basis - has not made any specific promotion during this weekend. "We received some phone calls for bookings from Mauritians but it has not been very different from any other weekend," revealed the reservation department of the hotel in Bel-Ombre.
The Apavou hotel group is also offering promotional prices in some of their hotels at the moment. The rooms are at Rs 4,500 for a night on a half-board basis but some of the hotels are already full. The central reservations desk confirms that there were a few Mauritians who tried to book this weekend.
Only a few hotels still have rooms
left at the moment. With the boom
in the tourist sector
that has prevailed
for several months,
almost all hotels
are full until March.
There is no more peak or low
season because hotels are
full or almost full all year long.
In fact, only a few hotels still have rooms left at the moment. With the boom in the tourist sector that has prevailed for several months, almost all hotels are full with tourists. Some hotels are even full until March. There is no more peak or low season because hotels are full or almost full all year long.
The number of tourist arrivals has kept on increasing since the beginning of the year. Between January and September, the sector went through an 18.1% growth compared to last year for the same period. And the minister of Tourism, Xavier-Luc Duval, now eyes the record number of 900,000 tourist arrivals by December
That speaks volumes about the lack of space in hotels. Some of those who were not lucky enough to find a room for this weekend might be luckier next weekend - as Friday is also a public holiday for the celebration of Divali. But we can already bet that, even though they may not have found room in hotels or bungalows, beaches will be overcrowded this weekend.
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