Mauritius will receive 980,000 tourists this year, compared to 965,441 in 2012, representing an increase of 1.5 per cent, Statistics Mauritius said Friday in its official publication.
The Office indicated that in the first quarter of 2013, 471,664 tourists arrived in Mauritius, up by 1 per cent from the 467,153 tourists who arrived in the first quarter of 2012.
Four of the top five tourist-generating countries recorded growths, while France, the top most country, registered a decline of 6.1 per cent: France (-6.1), Reunion (+0.5), United Kingdom (+12.5), South Africa (+2.8) and India (+8.4).
Among the emerging markets, China and India registered growths of +77.4 per cent and +8.4 per cent respectively, while Russia registered a decline of -24.7 per cent.
During the first quarter of 2013, the room occupancy rate of all registered hotels in operation averaged 60 per cent, down from 62 per cent; and the bed occupancy rate averaged 52 per cent, down from 55 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.
According to the Bank of Mauritius, gross tourism receipts decreased by 6.3 per cent from US$758 million in the first quarter of 2012 to US$710 million in the quarter of 2013.
Tourism receipts per tourist therefore declined from US$1,625 to US$1,503.
As at end of June 2013, there were 116 registered hotels in the country, of which 109 were in operation and 7 were not operating due to renovation works.
The room capacity of the 109 operating hotels was 11,977 with 24,438 bed-places, down by 0.4 per cent from 28,130 in March 2011 to 28,030 in March 2012.
