The current year is going well for Mauritius on the Russian tourism market. Demand is steadily moving up, exceeding last year's values.
According to official statistics of the island, in the period from January to October 2023, 11 778 citizens of the Russian Federation have already visited Mauritius, which is 73,7% more than in the same period last year, and 36,9% more than in January-October pre-Covid 2019.
Tour operators confirm the positive statistics. They say that sales have picked up a good dynamics since the beginning of the year. This is even confirmed by the fact that a number of tour operators have taken up blocks of seats on flights to Mauritius. With Aeroflot's decision on direct flights, demand received an additional powerful stimulation, travel companies say.
“Sales growth will be fivefold compared 2022. Our company, reacting to such dynamics, has arranged a block program. Already in July there were bookings for December,” said Fun&Sun.
Intourist also talks about the same amount of growth: the number of Mauritian bookings in the company increased in 2023 by 5 times compared to 2022 data. The reason is the upcoming launch of direct transportation.
The depth of bookings, according to tour operators, reaches spring.
Space Travel says that Aeroflot's direct flights, which will begin flying to Mauritius from December 23, have already stimulated demand to a level higher than last year, when flights to Mauritius were only possible with a connection in Dubai. And the positive dynamics will continue.
All tour operators give the same forecasts. With the advent of direct transportation, tour operators expect, among other things, some reduction in prices due to competition.
For the New Year's dates, for example, tour packages with a flight on Aeroflot are up to 10-15% cheaper than a tour on regular flights with a connection in Dubai, say Space Travel.
Now, for many tour operators, the majority of winter bookings are for tours on direct Aeroflot flights. For Russian Express, for example, this share reaches about 80%.