Mauritian tourism through a global storm

Appointed Minister of Tourism and Leisure in September 2000, Nando Bodha saw the sector confront, a year later, the shockwave of the 11 September 2001 attacks on global air travel.

To safeguard the destination's appeal and support the growth of hotel capacity.

According to official Ministry of Tourism statistics, arrivals rose from 656,453 in 2000 to 702,018 in 2003, and tourism receipts from Rs 14.2 billion to Rs 19.4 billion; by 2003 the country had 97 hotels and 9,647 rooms. In 2010, the first year of his second spell at the ministry (May 2010 to July 2011), the destination welcomed 934,827 visitors (964,642 in 2011). These figures describe the sector's overall trend and cannot be attributed to any specific measure taken by the Minister.

Tourism confirmed its role as a pillar of the Mauritian economy in a difficult international climate.