Mauritius’ tourism earnings should grow by 5.2% this year with a greater number of tourist arrivals, the country’s statistics office revealed on August 24.

Tourism revenues this year are expected to reach 58.8 billion rupees ($1.78 billion) against 55.9 billion rupees last year. An expectation which is slightly above an initial forecast of 58 billion rupees.

Tourism, it should be highlighted, is a major source of revenues for Mauritius. Data from the statistics office indeed shows that the country received 625,859 tourists during the first half of 2017, up 6.7% as compared to 2016. Over the same period, revenues generated by the sector soared 7.8% reaching 29.31 billion rupees or $848 million over the period.

Fiacre E. Kakpo