Mauritius as Tourism Destination

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Mauritius as Tourism destination 3

Crimes in Tourism Destination 3

Conclusion 5

References & Bibliography 6

Introduction

On the 10th January 2011, Mrs Michaela Harte body was found dead by his husband in their room at the LUX Grand Gaube ex - Legends Hotel & Spa in Mauritius. This event has caused a havoc in the country, several articles and news broadcasted on Television, local newspaper namely l`Express, Le Mauricien and le Défi Media Group (January 2011). Mrs Harte was on her honeymoon trip in Mauritius when she was murdered. A police enquiry and trial was held during the year 2011, where five employees working for the Legends Hotel were arrested and two of them were finally brought to trial to the Juries Tribunal in May 2011. A verdict of acquittal was pronounced by the juries against the two employees that were formally accused of murder; namely Avinash Treeboohun & Sandip Moonea. This acquittal and unresolved murder would have an impact on the Tourism Sector in Mauritius.

Mrs Harte murder had certainly caused an immediate impact on Travel and Tourism industry Government of Mauritius has taken additional measures and has adopted strategies to minimise the damages caused to the global tourism image of Mauritius. The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam (The Journal.ie, July 2012) reassure the Irish people that no stone will be left unturned to solve this case and had even invited the Police Service of Northern Ireland to help in the investigations.

During the past six months from the time of the murder and the acquittal sentence, many articles were made by local and international press, television, and on internet. Most of the articles described the murder of a 27th year old Ireland spouse murdered in a luxury 4 Star Hotel in Mauritius, as sensational news by referring to the murder in Mauritius.

In view of these articles, press release, Mauritius who recon to be a peaceful and secured destination, has been blamed to be a black dot for the Irish people, as referred to an article in the Daily Mail reporter on the 12th January 2011. It is also important to point out that on one of the most famous social network Facebook page (Facebook, March 2013), where millions of people around are subscribed; a special page was created to boycott Mauritius as a Tourist destination.

The case of Mrs. Harte being killed in her hotel room at the LUX Grand Gaube, for a couple of dollars, when being on honey moon, is one which may be said to be unforgiveable. Mauritius is a famous worldwide known destination for weddings and honeymooners. This crime is detrimental for its tourism industry. This news was broadcasted a few hours only after the crime had been committed, on several channels under the "Breaking News" titles and had it "Murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavy (Harte) was strangled over a purse containing a small amount of cash. This was broadcasted around the world this had a negative impact on Mauritius. The words of the husband inspire more sadness saying "She was my life" (The Guardian, July 2012). The media was very quick at propagating the bad news and bad press and such publicity is not what a tourism destination wants. This act is in fact one of the greatest threat to the Mauritian's tourism industry.

Mauritius as Tourism destination

Mauritius is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It is normally referred to as the rainbow nation. Travellers and visitors consider the island, set in its turquoise sea, as an oasis of peace and tranquillity in the Indian Ocean. Tourism is a major pillar of the Mauritian economy. Since 1970s, it has contributed enormously to cause economic growth and development in Mauritius. Tourist arrivals have been constantly increasing over the past years and the country is expecting to welcome about two million foreign visitors annually by 2015 (Ali Jafar, World Bank:2011 ), Tourism causes changes in almost all spheres- economic, social, cultural, political or environmental- of the host community.

Crimes in Tourism Destination

Ntuli (1998) described crime as "a universal social phenomenon in that it threatens the safety and security of the people, property, their sense of well-being, as well as social order".

Tourists who were anticipating of getting married in Mauritius have surely cancelled their reservations as soon information about this misfortune spread around the whole world and this is witnessed in Ntuli (2000) who found that nowadays, crimes committed against tourist is becoming more and more detrimental to the tourism industry of a destination.

Tourist Arrival in 2011- 2012 from United Kingdom including Ireland

Country 2011 2012

United Kingdom 88,182 87,648 - 0.6%

Other European 30,620 29,340 - 4.2%

Table 1.0

Source: Central Statistics Office Mauritius (INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL & TOURISM Year 2012)

With regard to the figures on table 1.0, there had been a decreased in tourist arrival from the United Kingdom, but there are not enough evidence that can stipulate that tourist from the United Kingdom and Ireland did boycott Mauritius destination, the other element to be considered is also the global economic crisis.

As mentioned earlier, and supported by Giddens (1990) who stated that crimes committed to travellers has an impact on many