India ranks 5th among Mauritius’ source markets; eyes 4th spot
Mauritius Press Meet
Indian tourist arrivals to Mauritius jump from 56,000 in 2024 to 75,000 in 2025.
The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) engages with Indian travel trade and media in February, with a delegation led by Dinesh Kumar Burrenchobay, Chairman, and newly appointed Benoit Harter, Director – India, along with India representative Intrepid Marketing and Communications.
Response from India & Beyond
Burrenchobay observed that the new generation of Indian travellers requires a different approach to destination marketing. “They have their own ways of looking at things. We need to get the right model out of India and then convince them to come to Mauritius,” he said.
He added that arrivals from India have recorded encouraging growth. “Arrivals last year were at 75,000 Indian travellers in 2025. In 2024, it was 56,000. We moved from 56,000 to 75,000 (up 35% from 2024) which is very interesting growth, and I think it can be sustained further.”
“For this to happen, we are talking with Air Mauritius to see if they can increase their daily flight into New Delhi, so that we can tap into the richness of North India from Delhi upwards,” he said. MTPA has also signed strategic MOUs with Indigo, MakeMyTrip, and Thomas Cook (India) to maximize awareness, visibility and drive visitation across India’s metro cities and booming Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets.
Burrenchobay further noted that the destination is closely monitoring global travel patterns and evolving strategies accordingly. “There is a rather immediate need to do a tactical market from March onwards. We have seen a drop in our traditional markets: Germany, England and France, which is very surprising and the first time ever.
“We also want to target India. Because of the geopolitics around the world, people do not want to travel far. People might be a bit more reluctant to do long-haul trips as they want to go back home fast. Mauritius fits into that short-haul trip.”
Discussing emerging markets, Burrenchobay added that some destinations have delivered unexpected growth. “Italy has been surprising. We have also seen growth from Poland and the Middle East. But the Middle East travellers usually come when it becomes too hot for them there, so they come to Mauritius.”
India Market Strategy
Sunil Mathapati, Country Manager – India, MTPA, highlighted the destination’s ambition to climb the ranking of India’s outbound markets. “Currently we are number five as a source market from India. What we are looking at is to move to the number four position.
“We are also talking to the hoteliers - why not look at India as a proper market and allocate rooms for it? There are also four-star properties which fall into a budget category, and we are looking at that as well."
He emphasised that MTPA is working with partners across the ecosystem to strengthen India’s positioning. “On a holistic approach, we are trying to talk to every partner of ours in Mauritius to make them understand the value of the Indian market and see if that can be translated by offering a good value-for-money proposition. That will increase our numbers coming in 2026.”
Positioning Mauritius Beyond Honeymoons
Mathapati also highlighted the evolving positioning of Mauritius in the Indian market. “Mauritius has something for everyone. Earlier it was largely restricted to honeymoon travel, but now it has expanded to family travel. Everybody wants to come down.
“There are Gen Z travellers looking for adventure in Mauritius. They are not only looking at being on the beach but also climbing mountains. That encourages us to explore the market further and position ourselves as a family destination and an entertaining destination for everyone.”
Burrenchobay also highlighted opportunities in sports tourism. “There is also a link with sports. Mauritius has some fabulous golf courses, but none of them look onto the turquoise of the Indian Ocean. We want to encourage golf and perhaps link up with golf associations in India. “And obviously we have to look at the strategy for Gen Z because they are the future.”
MICE & Wedding Opportunities
Neeti Sharma, Director at Intrepid Marketing and Communications, highlighted strong growth in the MICE segment from India.
“What we have seen in the last two years is amazing growth in the MICE business. When we talk about MICE, we are referring to groups choosing very upmarket properties such as four-star plus and five-star hotels. Even though the group sizes may not always be very large, the revenue size is very commendable. I think we have been successful in attracting upgraded MICE business.”
She added that destination weddings will also remain a focus area. “We are also going to focus on Indian weddings, particularly smaller-sized weddings. That will be one of the segments we will be seeing more of this year.”
