Ghanaians asked to explore Mauritius as new holiday and business destination
The Country Manager of South African Airways, Mrs Gloria Yirenkyi, has called on Ghanaians to explore the numerous investment and leisure opportunities in Mauritius.
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Subsequently, she said the airline had come up with special fares to enable travel and tour agencies in the country to develop affordable packages that can combine both leisure and business while in Mauritius.
Mrs Yirenkyi said this in an interview with the Graphic Business when she expressed her views about the island after a special tour of the leisure and investment opportunities in that country.
The tour, which included some selected travel and tour agencies such as Bespoke Travel Consult, Doscar Travel and Tours, Grandeur Consult, JourneyMax Travel and Tours and Koppan Hospitality as well as the media; Graphic Business, the biggest selling newspaper in the country and one of the newspapers in the Graphic Communications Group stables and The Herald, was at the request of the agencies which are looking for new holiday destinations away from the usual which are already well-known to their existing and new clients.
“We are also doing this collaboration with well-grounded companies in the travel and tour industry in Mauritius such as the Attitude Hotel Resort chain which has about nine star-rated hotels and Emotions, a classic destination management company with excellent services to meet the total aspirations of visitors,” she said.
Visa free entry
Mrs Yirenkyi said any travel to the exotic island required no visas, another opportunity which had made it easy for people to enter the island for their holiday experience.
“But anybody wishing to enter the island must show proof of their hotel bookings and other arrangements to be granted entry and once you are in, you will experience the rich culture and tradition, their beautiful beaches, world class star-rated hotels among many others at affordable rates”, she added.
A couple of years ago, the Presidents of the two nations signed a protocol agreement under which citizens from both countries could enter each other’s country without a visa.
The business lounge at the Mauritius International airport
That, Mrs Yirenkyi described as welcoming and a platform when Ghanaians could leverage to explore Mauritius either on a holiday or for business.
Flight comfort
About the distance to the island, she said South African Airlines provided the best connections to Mauritius.
“From Accra you fly direct to Johannesburg for less than six hours and wait for about hour to connect to Mauritius which also takes three hours or less in many instances”, she said.
Mrs Yirenkyi said due the increase in passenger numbers, the airline usually organised two flights per day, four times a week on Thursday, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, adding that “we have specially aligned the flights to create better convenience for weekend getaways”.
Meanwhile, she said South African Airways run a daily flight to Mauritius on the other days, thereby leaving travelers with options.
On why the airline should be the first choice for those intending to fly to the island, she said, “the distance to the island is shorter through Johannesburg as compared to any of our competitors; You do not need to fly longer a distance with hours of waiting time to transit while we offer the prompt and shorter hours of service in our comfortable aircraft.”
The tour
The delegation was first lodged in at the Coin de Mire Attitude hotel where they received presentations on the hotel chains of Attitude. The group also had a guided tour of the capital of Mauritius, Port Louis after which they visited the famous Sugar Adventure Museum after which the media was taken to the newly built African Leadership University in Beau Plan. There was a stay at the Zilwa Attitude where the delegation was treated to an organised sunset cruise in a boat on the Zilwa’s Catamaran.
There was also a trip to the Rhumerie de Chamarel where the famous drink Rum, is produced from sugarcane after which they were taken to seven coloured earths and the Chamarel waterfalls. They finally settled at the Ravelana Attitude Hotel, a beach front resort which offers free water sport activities on the Indian ocean.