ABSTRACT
Tourism brings enormous economic benefits to the island of Mauritius. With the decline in revenue and buoyancy of the two other main industries of the island, namely the textile and sugar industries, the tourism sector is being called upon to play an even more prominent economic role. Traditionally, since the early days of this industry, it has been a government policy to encourage ‘up-market’ as opposed to mass tourism. The government tried to achieve this objective by encouraging the supply of premium accommodation only and by strictly regulating the air transportation services in order to restrict air access to the island. These measures have resulted in a relatively high accommodation rate and airfare making the cost of a holiday to Mauritius affordable to only the higher income holiday makers. The tourism industry has nevertheless been booming with a steady increase of arrivals over the last 36 years. The aim of this chapter is to look at how the government of Mauritius has formulated and implemented aviation polices in order to achieve its objectives for the tourism industry and to discuss whether this is still a sound strategy given the changing economic situation that the nation is now facing.
