Tourism In Mauritius And The Industry Tourism Essay

The aim of the literature review chapter is to assess existing literature with relation to the study in order to know what researchers have told about tourism developments and perceptions. This chapter comprises an overview of the tourism industry globally, the tourism industry in Mauritius, tourism development in Mauritius, Integrated resort scheme and related literature review, perception and theoretical model, factors influence perception and empirical review.

According by the world tourism organisation, Fact and Finding Section; the significant growth of the tourism activity evidently shows that tourism industry is one of the most incredible economic and social phenomena of the past century. The quantity of international arrivals shows a progress from a mere 25 million international arrivals in 1950 to an approximated 806 million in 2005, equivalent to an average arrival growth rate of 6.5%.

Development was principally intense in Asian and pacific during this period for e.g.; 13% on average a year and in Middle East 10% while at a slower pace and slightly below world’s average growth. Market share of emerging destinations are gradually growing compare to establish regions such as Europe and the Americas. Europe’s world share declined by over 10 percentage point since 1950 whereas the Americas lost 13 percentage points. The market share of Europe has decreased by over 10% point since 1950 while the Americas lost 13% point. Europe and the Americas were two of the main regions which were receiving tourists between 1950 and 200. But with the credit crunch in 2008, figures have dropped as people have less money to spend and companies are unable to expand as rapidly.

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However, although the evolution of tourism in the last few years has been irregular, UNWTO maintain its long-term forecast for the moment. UNWTO’S tourism vision forecasts that international arrivals are expected to reach nearly 1.6 billion by the year 2020. Of these worldwide arrivals in 2020, 1.2 billion will be intraregional and 378 million will be long-haul travellers.

Sources: http://www.tourismtravelasia.com/2008 03 01 archive.html

Background of tourism in Mauritius

The term “Tourism” is of recent origin. In other words it is of relatively modern origin. It is distinguishable by its mass character from the travel undertaken in the past.

Today tourism occupies an important role in our society. Like other industry tourism have attractive features. Due to its attractive features, various study has been undertake by some researchers and finally each one has their own perception of tourism and definition of it. Many definitions and explanations have been given by many writers and scholars in their own fashion for the term tourism. Let us see some of the definitions here to have a fair idea of tourism.

According to the great Austrian economist, Hermann V. Schullard says that “the sum total of operators, mainly of an economic nature, which directly relate to the entry, stay and movement of foreigners inside and outside a certain country city or region”. It is considered as one of the earliest definitions of tourism. He gave this definition in the year 1910.

The above definition of Swiss Professors Hunziker and Krapf was subsequently adopted by the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST).

The AIEST definition brings out the following three district elements of tourism:

Involvement of travel by non-residents.

Stay of temporary nature in the area visited.

Stay not connected with any activity involving earnings.

Tourism is, therefore, a composite phenomenon which embraces the incidence of a mobile population of travellers who are strangers to the places they visit. The above definition of various scholars and explanations of different writers obviously indicate the concept of tourism.

In Mauritius the tourism industry has been divided into eight different sectors or areas. For example;

Accommodation

Adventure tourism and recreation

Attractions

Events and conferences

Food and beverage

Tourism services

Transportation

Travel trade

Tourism industry in Mauritius has traditionally targeted a higher echelon clientele. Nowadays there have been new policies with the arrival of a new minister of tourism such as promotion of Mauritius by the MTPA in new market for e.g. china, Russia and India, creation new brand image such as “les iles vanilles” and duty free shopping. The clientele of the Mauritius tourism industry mainly come from Europe and in 2010 there has been particularly no change in tourist arrivals patterns compared to previous years. This can be illustrated in figure 1 in the appendix; tourist arrivals by region. Furthermore according to the central statistical office (CSO) and the bank of Mauritius (BOM), both arrival and tourism receipts recovered remarkably in 2010. As illustrated in appendix figure 2. The BOM’S official receipts for 2010 amount to RS 39.5 bn which are calculated based on “inward and outward remittances”.

Tourism in Mauritius is mainly concentrated in the coastal areas of the islands. In the budget 2011, the Ministry of Finance indicated that the state of Mauritius will invest Rs 1 billion over the next five years for the consolidation to the tourism industry and thereby boost the arrivals outside the Euro zone. Rs 2 billion are earmarked for the sector as a whole during the same period. In relation to tourist arrivals, the tourism statistics committee of Mauritius states that, there will be a 5.5% growth in tourist arrivals in this year and a strong growth of 8.7% was recorded in tourist arrivals for the month of September in Mauritius. This growth in September represents 65,404 visitors compared to 60,144 last year from the same period.

Nature of tourism in Mauritius

Mauritius is a small island found in the Indian Ocean. Tourism in Mauritius is mainly base on the 3’s that is sea, sun and sand. This resulted in tourists being kept within the four walls of the luxurious hotels. Mauritius put great emphasis on the mass tourism. Therefore in order to support this nature of tourism, it needs to be able to provide accommodation, attractions, hospitality and branding.

Accommodation such as hotels, form one of the most important factors that influence tourists to a country. Hotels in Mauritius are found within those of the world’s leading hotels. The major group in Mauritius concerning hotels are Taj brand, the oberoi, sun international group of hotels, group appavoo and beachcomber. The nature of tourism in Mauritius consists also of Attractions. First of all, it’s beautiful beaches and lagoons form part of the attractions that Mauritius propose, then we have also man-made park attractions like casela brid park and SSR Botanical gardens. Hospitality also plays an important role in the nature of tourism in Mauritius. Mauritius is well know and reputed for its legendary hospitality which is considered as one of the best in the world.

So in order to market effectively the nature of tourism in Mauritius, we had the slogan “Mauritius- No problem” and in 2009 the Mauritian government has come up with a new slogan such as ” Mauritius, c’est un plaisir”.

Tourism development in Mauritius:

Mauritius is becoming an important tourist destination in the Indian Ocean. In 1980, tourists spending were around $ 110 million (bank of Mauritius statistics, 2000). So in order to satisfy the needs and wants of visitors, the government of Mauritius has undertaken development, mainly hotel development. Hotel development in Mauritius was one of the main priorities due to the nature of tourism in Mauritius that is the concept of the 3’s (sea, sun and sand). Hotel development in the island has been subject to a rapid growth that is from 43 in 1980 to 95 hotels in 2000, (tourism authority 2010) with an overall rate of 182 per cent. Hotel development is also a way for the government of obtaining taxes from investors and to create employment. Hotel development in Mauritius has also contributed in promoting Mauritius as a tourist destination by embracing the ideas of “quality management” and initiating various programmes to improve the quality of services to meet international hotel standards (Nield and kozak, 1999; Ministry of tourism, 1998). Some hotels in Mauritius as already been accredited by certificate such as ISO 9000 (Sun Resorts, 1196).Furthermore in order to meet international standard, groups such as Beach Comber Group, has redesigned and reinvigorated in the new Trou Aux Biches hotel which will open after a complete reconstruction in November 2010. In relation to the hotel industry in Mauritius the previous Minister of the Ministry of tourism, Xvier Luc Duval announced that he liked to introduced as quickly as possible a new classification of the Mauritian hotels in comparison with their impact on environment.

On the other hand tourism developments in Mauritius are not limited to hotels but there exist also tourism development in the form of attractions and shopping and leisure areas. One of the main shopping and leisure areas is the Caudan Waterfont which faced the Port Louis harbour, Mauritius. It is one of the most popular places in the Mauritian capital due to the many ways through which people can spend their time. Others leisure development of this type are coming soon such as the project of ” Mall of Mauritius a Bagatelle”.

Diversification of tourism development

In Mauritius, tourism is one of the most important pillars of the economy. Mauritius is predominately a holiday’s destination for beach-resort tourists. It possesses a wide range of natural and man-made attractions. The Mauritius government expects 2 million tourist arrivals per annum by 2015. So, a new strategy of development has been defined called “opening of the sky” marketing action plan to develop new markets. In order to achieve the target of 2 million tourists in 2015, the government of Mauritius and investors are involving in the diversification of tourism products. Resent trends in the tourism industry is the introduction and promotion of Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS). The board of investment in Mauritius announced the launch of IRS in 2002. This is a program planned to make easy the possession of resort and residential property by non-citizens on the island. By buying an IRS villa, international buyers can become Mauritian residents as soon as they take possession of a luxury property on the island,” states the website of the Board of Investment. However a limit of less than 5000 such homes has been set to ensure the island does not become a new “costa del sol” in term of over development. Examples of this resent type of tourism product are Tamarina Golf Estate and Beach Club, Villa Valrich at Bel-Ombre and Anahita the Resort. These IRS are already in a position to welcome residents. Following this kind of development other project such as La Balise Marina will not take too much time to be in operation (gazette of lexpress; 26/10/2007).IRS villas are not only a way of having a lovely lifestyle and environment; but they can also be an investment for owners.

Literature Review

Related literature review on tourism development such as IRS

The intent of this research is to analyze the perceptions of the local people toward tourism development in Mauritius such as Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS). Integrated Resort Scheme is the new trends in the tourism and hospitality industry. “IRS projects will growth in the next ten years as its offer attractive package. The difference between luxury villas and IRS villas is that, “Many promoters agreed that the main differentiation between these two, is the fact that it makes it possible for foreigners to purchase a property in Mauritius and have the residential permit. In other words Integrated Resort Scheme is a way to facilitate the ownership of resort and residential property to non-citizen on the island”, according to Pauline Etienne. (2007). Title; “Private bungalows with hotel services”. L’express. Tuesday 26th October, p. 6. In relationship with what the article state about IRS programs, the board of investment’s website states that; “through the IRS, foreigners can become Mauritian resident as soon as they take possession of a luxury property on the island”. In the same article mentioned above, Shyma Soondor, the communication manager of Villas Valriche confirms that: “IRS villas are like a secure way for foreigners and their dependents to obtain residential permits”. In fact the IRS programs also represent a form of investment for the foreigners , David Martial, communication manager of Ciel Corporate Services point out that; ” if the owner chooses to spend only one month’s holiday in Mauritius, for instance he can chose to rent his villas so that he obtains a source of revenue from his villas. Moreover according to David Martial these villas can offer a “quality guarantee thanks to the international and local architectural.

In an interview of Alec Bates, partner in South Africa cities Valriche; ” who argued that tourism development such as IRS is an opportunity to foreigners to invest in the country and that IRS projects occurred primarily in developing country”, interview made by Deepa Bhookun. (2010). Title; ” Serait-ce les Mauriciens qui creent des problems”. L’express. Saturday, 6th June, p. 9. This therefore supports what David martial, communication manager of ciel has said with regard to the IRS projects.

In an article of Gilles Ribouet. (2006). Title; ” Entre enclaves de luxe et action social”. L’express. 7th May, which state that; “Villas of Tamarina from the group of “Medine” and Anahita from the group of “ciel” are the first two IRS in Mauritius. Tamarina Golf, Spa & Beach Club was the first to be into operation. The Tamarina Villas is from the Medine group which has adopted an integrated development plan”. Laurence Desvaux, Marketing Manager of Tamarina said that, “we have adopted a horizontal approach to land development in the long term”. Villas of Tamarin of different features such as private pool, 24hr security, air conditioning, a phone line and such services as landscaping, gardening, housekeeping, driver, cooks and babysister on request. In another article written by Pierrick Piedel in 2010, title; “Interview of Gilbert Espitalier-Noel chief executive officer of ENL property. L’express. Wednesday, 21th April, p. 9, this article talks about the large investment that IRS projects required. For example, Mr Gilbert Espitalier-Noel, Chief Executive Officer of ENL property states that; “he has invested Rs 10 billion in the construction of different projects”. He also mentioned that the investment cost for the Villas Valriche was Rs 4 milliards. In relation with the project of “La Balise Marina” an article has been published in the L’express newspaper by Fidele Honvou in 2009 in which he mentioned that the project of Balise marina is committed to contribute Rs 24 million to a fund for the socioeconomic integration of the local people of the region, of which Rs 10 million will be fund for training. The Balise Marina is the only IRS project based on a marina concept.

The IRS nowadays represent a different form of tourism which bring with it positive impact as well as negative impacts.

Projects under the Integrated Resort Scheme:

According to the Guidelines of Integrated Resort Scheme from the Board of Investment (2007), there is a list of projects under the Integrated Resort Scheme. This list is as follows:

Tamarina Golf Estate Ltd, which is locate in a village called Tamarin in the west of the island.

Anahita World Class Sanctuary, which is located in a village called Beau champ.

La Reserve leisure Resorts Ltd, Location; Flic en flac.

Belle Riviere Promotion Ltd, Location; A village called Bel Ombre

Villas Valriche, Location; Bel Ombre

Club med Villas IRS, Location; Albion

Dolphin Coast Marina Estate Ltd, Location; Riviere Noir

Barachois Villas, Location; Tamarin Village.

Matala Properties, Location; Riviere Noir Village.

Cliff of Maconder, Location; Maconder, Baie du Cap

These are therefore the ten projects under the Integrated resort scheme according to the guidelines of IRS from the board of Investment (2007).

Importance and relevance of considering the perception of local people for the tourism sector.

Local people perception about tourism development is an important element that investors need to take into consideration when developing tourism project for example such as IRS. It is advisable by some researchers such as Ap, 1992 to consider perception of local people while planning and marketing tourism development, because it might ensure the success of the project. Considering perception of local people toward tourism development could also be a valuable element in identifying and measuring tourism impacts (Getz, 1994). On the other hand Dyer et al 2007, has also found in his research that tourism perceptions by host community residents have gained academic attention during the last decades, and their importance issues, in terms of sustainable development, has been acknowledged. We can see that the findings of Ap., 1992 and Dyer et al 2007 have some similarities. Perception of the host community concerning tourism development is definitely affected by the impact of tourism in general. It is why that some authors have analyzed the perception of local people by taking into account the economic, social and environmental impact. For example considerable number of studies have been developed by taking into consideration the perceptions and attitudes towards sociocultural impacts (wall and athieson, 2006).

Therefore according to some studies such as; ( Ap,1992; Dyer et al 2007; Getz, 1994), they have found the importance of considering host community perception on the planning and marketing of tourism development. Due to that it is therefore vital that investors and promoters of IRS take into consideration the perception of local people before and when operating this type of tourism development. One method, by which investors can do it, is by conducting Social Marketing. This is a way by which the promoters can gather information concerning local’s resident perception on tourism development such as IRS in Mauritius. Finally many authors such as; Andereck and Vogt 2000; Ap 1992; Davis and Morais 2004; Ko and Stewart 2002, found that community need to support the tourism development, because it play an important role to the success of the development.

Theoretical models to study resident’s perception

There are different model that has been used to study the resident perception of a community and also to analyze the relationship that resident perception and tourism development might have. Undoubtedly, one of the most significant and earliest models is Doxey (1975) that is the Index of Tourist Irritation or ” Irridex”. This model comprises of four stages, which attempt to explain host community responses to tourism development. This model agreed that negative impact of tourism development can lead to irritation in the community. Therefore according to Doxey (1975) such irritation will determine by the degree of relation between residents and tourists. Under this model the residents’ perception vary from euphoria, to apathy, to annoyance and finally to antagonism. On the other hand, by supposing that communities are not necessarily homogeneous, a former model suggested by Butler in 1974, were used to explain the host attitudinal/behavioural responses to tourist activity. Compared to the Doxey’s model, Butler’s matrix argued that a large amount of opinions may be found within the host community and that opinions can indeed change in any one of the four direction derived from the matrix. According to Ryan (2003), the doxey’s models represent the general tendency of opinions and views of the community. Thirdly compared to Doxey’s and Butler models, Dogan (1989) has create a framework by taking into consideration the impact of tourism development and the behavioural responses adopted by residents. It focuses on response to tourism impacts rather than attitudes. Dogan (1989) proposes six strategies in order to cope with the effects of tourism. Such strategies are; Resistance, Retreatism, Boundary maintenance, Revitalization and Adoption. Similarities that Dogan’s models and Butler’s matrix have is that they both recognises that the heterogeneity of host population implies that several responses, which will vary considerably depending on the relationship between tourist and residents. Another framework that can be used to help us to understand the perception of local people is the Ap and Crompton framework (1993), according to this framework residents’ reaction to tourism could be placed on a continuum comprised of four strategies: Embracement, Tolerance, Adjustment, and Withdrawal. Social exchange theory suggests that people evaluate an exchange based on the costs and benefits that are going to be involved in the exchange. Residents are willing to exchange with tourists if they receive more benefits thancosts (Jurowski, Uysal & Williams, 1997). An exchange process must satisfied four conditions which are need satisfaction, exchange relation, consequences of exchange and no-exchange outcome (Ap, 1992). Three main

elements that can be found in the exchange process are economic, socio-cultural and environmental effects. Using social exchange theory, Jurowski, Uysal, and Williams (1997) developed a model that integrated factors likely to influence reactions towards tourism. In their model, they proposed that perceived potential for economic gain, use of resource base, attachment to one’s community, and attitudes towards the preservation of the natural environment will influence how residents perceived the economic, social, and environmental impacts. Gursoy, Jurowski, and Uysal (2002) criticized model by Jurowski, Uysal, and Williams (1997) for aggregating the costs and benefits into three categories, and further breaking down the perceived impact into five areas that are economic benefits, social benefits, social costs, cultural benefits and cultural costs. Perdue, Long, and Allen (1990) used social exchange theory as foundation to test the validity of the argument that the individual who gains benefit from tourism will more likely to support tourism development Therefore, these are some models that are used to understand the perception of local resident toward tourism developments. So the government of Mauritius might used these models in order to analyzed the perception of local residents toward tourism development in Mauritius and thus introduce policies based on what they have found through these models.

Factors influencing perception of local residents towards tourism development such as Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS)

It is hard to understand that there are actually countries that still want to increase their arrivals of tourist rather that setting policies such as maximum capacity to maintain competitiveness and sustainability (Loannides and Holcomb, 2003:42). Factors that influence the perception of local resident can be classified as follows: Socio-cultural, Economic and Environmental impact of tourism.

Socio-cultural Factors

Socio-cultural factors play an important role on the perception of people toward tourism development such as IRS. For example in an article (Title: “La balise Marina se concretise”) published in the l’express newspaper by Fidele Honvou on 2009, in which he mentioned that the project “La Balise Marina” is committed to contribute Rs 24 million to a fund for social integration and of which 10 million will be for training of the local people to help them to obtain a job in the tourism industry. Therefore based on this argument, the perception of local people toward this project will be more or less positive as they will also benefits. In relation to this article, there has been another article (Title: ” Entre enclaves de luxe et action social) published in the l’express newpaper by Gilles Ribouet on 2007, in which we can read that, Medine group has established a learning centre in order to train people living in the locality and then give them a job mainly in the IRS project of Tamarina. Here also this will positively influence the perception of local people toward that IRS project ( Tamarina Villas). Beside the various facilities that these investors are provide to the region in which they developed their project, there are also various socio-demographic variables that will influence the perception of local people. These variables are gender, age, birthplace and level of community attachment, ethnicity, education level and length of residence. Some studies have shown that these variables could have an impact on the perception of local people. For example; Braunfels, Texas, Um and Crompton (1987) Found that German ethnicity was a factor in attitudes toward tourism development. Discovering that the more attached an individual was to the community in regards to their length of residence; the less positively they were towards tourism development. Thus according to what these researchers have said we can assume that local people that lived on the littoral since their birth will have a negative perception on IRS projects.

However, to support the results of Lui and Var’s 1986 on the Hawaiian residents who did not find any significant differences in attitudes and perception based on ethnicity and length of residence, Allen et al’s (1993) study of 10 rural Colorado communities found no significant influence of length of residence on attitudes toward tourism development.

Economic Factors:

Another factor that will have an influence on the perception of host community is the economic impact. For example in an article (Title: “Il y a une mauvaise perception des IRS a Maurice”) published in the l’express newspaper which is based on the interview of Nicolas Vaudin, General Manager of Ciel Properties by Akilesh Roopun in 2006. In that article, according to Mr Nicolas Vaudin, Anahita Project will help to create jobs directly and indirectly. Therefore this argument has obviously a positive impact on the perception of the local resident. To support what Mr Nicolas Vaudin has told about the IRS in term of economic impacts, in an article published in 2007 by Gilles Ribouet which title is, “Entre enclaves de luxe et action sociale” in which it was said that, the IRS project is a component of a comprehensive integrated development plan that will benefits people in term of employment. In IRS project we much recognized that the jobs created by tourism are mainly in the area of personal services such as housekeeper, cook, landscaping and gardening. So job creation is the most important economic impact associated with tourism development. As tourism developments create jobs, people will have a chance to increase their income and thus have a better standard of living (Cattarinch 2001; Lewis 1998; Quinn & Strickland 1994; Wilson et al.2001; Wyss 2003). For example, in the small Caribbean island of Barbados, the percentage of job creation by tourism industry is 30%. In Mauritius, tourism provided employment directly for a provisional 21,100 people in March 2002 (Africa South of the Sahara 2004 by Europa Publications p. 725). Therefore, we can say that people who are involved directly in the tourism industry have a positive perception toward tourism development. For example, a local resident who gain a wages from the tourism industry may tolerate tourism-induced traffic congestion as he or she is obtaining a personal economic benefits (Pearce, Moscardo, and Ross 1996). On the other hand, Smith and Krannich 1998 has found that local people who depend on tourism to obtain a salary prefer less tourism development and perceive the impacts of tourism as more negative than the residents of communities that depend less on this activity.

Environmental Impact:

Another impact of tourism that might have an influence on the perception of local people is the environmental impact of tourism. As we know the tourism industry does not only create jobs and enhance the cultural knowledge but it also have a positive and negative impact on the environment and its biodiversity. For example tourism researchers such as; Liu & var; 1986; Liuat al, 1987) suggest in their studies that host community resident’s may view tourism as having both positive and negative physical and environmental impacts. The positive impact that tourism development can have on the environment are; tourism can encourage country to protect their natural beauties such as in Mauritius where we have Black River Gorge, chamarel and so on. Tourism can also encourage countries to create park such as in countries in Africa where they can practice safari as a tourist activities. In relation to the positive impact of tourism on the environment, Mc Cool & Martin, 1994; Matheison & wall, 1982 suggest that tourism creates opportunities for the conservation and preservation of natural areas. The environment is an important element in the tourism industry. Therefore to support what Mc Coll & Martin, 1994; Matheison & wall, 1982 has found, Cohen, 1978 argued in his study that tourism provides a reason to preserve the natural scenery and man-mad historic sites, traditional towns and neighbourhoods, villages, lighthouses, harbours and fishing piers. Positive impact of tourism development on the environment will definitely influence positively the perception of local resident. However, tourism development has also negative impacts on the environment. Liu et al, 1987 argued in their studies that the negative environmental impacts which emerged frequently are littering, overcrowding, traffic congestion as well as pollution of water and soil along with the deterioration of natural resources as a result of the construction of tourism development such as hotel. For example in the Caribbean island, 70000 tons of waste water is release in the sea, these solid waste and littering can damage the physical appearance of the water and shoreline and cause the death of marine animals. Another example of the negative impact of tourism on the environment is in Mediterranean where intensive tourism development such as hotel has caused three- quarters of the sand dunes on the Mediterranean coastline from Spain to Sicily to disappear. Thus due to these negative impact, local resident perception toward tourism development may change negatively. In order to ensure that tourism development will be socially and environmentally responsible we can involved the local people in the planning and operational stages of the development in order to take into consideration their opinion and feeling.

Another way to prevent negative environmental impacts is that, the number of visitors should be limited, regarding the carrying capacity, to prevent pollution and other types of destruction of the natural resources (Burke et al 2000; Pattulo 1996).

Empirical Evidence:

There is some Empirical Evidence that supports this research of local perception. These empirical evidences include studies such as; Robin Nunkoo (2010), senior lecturer at the University of Mauritius, who have investigate on local perceptions toward Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS). From his investigation he has found that the problem with IRS is that they’re a form of enclave tourism, which is completely detached from local communities. Furthermore in relation to local perception, there are some Empirical Evidence that shows the relationship between tourism impacts that is Economic, socio-cultural and environment and local perceptions. These Empirical Evidences includes studies such as; Pizam, 1978; Pearce at al, 1996; Belise E Hoy, 1980; Husbands, 1989; Lankford and Howard, 1994 have