About Mauritius

Mauritius Island is situated in the Indian Ocean, 2000 Km South East of Africa. Port Louis is the capital city and seaport, and one airport is at Plaisance. The island is of volcanic origin, with small coastal plain and discontinuous mountains encircling a central plateau. Nearly 177 km of coastline, surrounded by coral reefs, account for turquoise lagoon and sandy beaches.

Night Life Mauritius

Night Life in MauritiusLuxury Casino, Discotheques, Pub and Restaurants.

Romantic DinnerRomantic dinner by the Sea. Everything is organised.

Caudan WaterfrontShopping by the waterfront. Duty Free Shops, Branded Shops,cinema&resto

History

Population
Mauritius consists of about 1.2 million inhabitants, 51% of which are women. The medium age of the people is 30 years and life expectancy of 70 years. The main religions are Hinduism, Christianity, Islamism and Buddhism. Literacy rate is about 85%.

History
FKnown as Dinah Robin to the early Arab traders as early as in the 15th century, Mauritius received the first Europeans in 1510. Portuguese navigators set ground in Vieux Grand Port, named the island Isle Cirné, but never settled. They only used the island as a supply base on their routes to India and Indonesia.
The first ones who tried to establish permanent settlement were the Dutch, in 1598. They named the island after the Prince Maurice of Nassau. Known to have introduced sugar cane, Javanese deer and the first slaves from Madagascar, the Dutch are adversely famous for their active part in the extinction of the legendary Dodo and for the decimation of the luxurious Ebony forests. They left in 1710.
Five years later, French colonialists landed on the island and renamed it Ile de France. During that French era, which ended in 1810, Mahé de Labourdonnais became governor of the Island. He took office in 1735 and is regarded as the founder of urban Mauritius. He was indeed the one behind the name of Mahébourg (founded by Decean but named after him) and of Port Louis(named after King Louis of France). He is also known as the one who ordered the design and construction, of the Château Mon Plaisir and the botanical Gardens of Pamplemousses, to Mr. Telfair, famous architect and landscaper, attached to the Kingdom of France. The first sugar mills and the birth of the Sugar Industry were also part of his honorable deeds.
1810 saw the taking over of I’Ile de France by the British, even when the latter lost their only naval battle to the French navy at Vieux Grand Port is indeed, the only Napoleonic naval victory to be inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The British implemented the abolition of slavery and introduced the first indentured Chinese and Indian laborers to work in the sugar cane fields. Fellow traders shortly followed these laborers.
After the British colons had reverted the island’s name back to Mauritius, they allowed French town names to be kept and French language to be written and spoken, as part as a unique, if not bizarre, compromise.
This is why up until now, Mauritius has that specificity of being one of the very few nations, where laws are made and written in English while French and Creole are written and spoken in everyday life, within all sections of the population.
Well after it gained its independence on 12th March 1968, Mauritius continued to be sovereign nation of The British Commonwealth, with a constitution based on the Westminster Model. Today the country has Israelite-type governing system, with president and Prime Minister switching seats over a 5-year mandate.
On the twelfth of March 1992, the country proudly became a republic, based on the Indian model, but still today, Mauritius has that singularity, allowing its citizens to appeal to the Queen’s Privy Council, in matters of law.

ECONOMY
The Sugar Industry is a “has-been” backbone of the economy. Since Mahé de Labourdonnais, by the second half of the 18th century, with extensive sugar cane production, the sugar industry has been the prime industry and revenue maker of the country. Other sub-products like alcohol, vinegar, rum, and even electricity have emerged and dotted the nation with a mono-product dependent economy. This situation had its latent dangers, for Mauritius is subject to fierce cyclones and arduous droughts.
In the 1970’s, aware of these risks, the government started converting the wealth brought by Sugar into what is now known as the Export Processing Zones, with the building up of Industrial zones in various parts of the Island. By that same time, sugar magnates lurked towards other sectors and chose to capitalize in the Tourism Industry.
Both the EPZ and tourism sector became successful and by the mid 80’s they were employing more people than the historical Sugar Industry. Nevertheless, Sugar stayed the number one revenue maker of the economy but was out of breath and ready to be overtaken. Investors poured from Europe, India and China. Mauritius grew to be one of the major producers of knitted garments, with for instance the world’s largest woolen pullovers manufacturer, the Floréal Group.
The Export Processing Zone
The EPZ grew even better with more diversity in its products and emphasis on top quality manufactured goods for the export market. We thus saw Leather products, jewelry, watches, sunglasses, toys, model ships leap off the Export Processing Zone.
Nowadays the EPZ contributes for 70% of the economy while Sugar only caters for 27% of revenue from export. On the ranking of revenue makers, sugar has dropped to the 4th place, overtaken by the tourism sector and by a new comer; the service sector. The fall of the Sugar Industry will be even bigger with the transformation of Mauritius into a Cyber Island, into a knowledge-based economy.
TOURISM
Tourism has burst into a huge moneymaker in less than 20 years. From the first family-run hotel, the Dinarobin Hotel in the early 70’s, the Industry has become an insatiable pole for multimillion investments, employing more than the EPZ.
Nowadays, Mauritius is bound to offer an unbelievable palette of high standard hotels and projects. If estimates show that more than 700 000 visitors will land at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in 2004, it is projected that more than 1.2 mission tourists will visit the country yearly by 2010. This means that if actual revenue from tourism is at the level of the 25 Billion-rupee mark (83M Euros), this figure will more than double. Various Sugar Estates are converting their lands into luxurious hotel projects, with investments above the billion-rupee mark. It is a sign of times.
The necessity of more and more luxury rooms has called for more than 10 billion rupees investments within the next 3 years, with promoters up competing with more and more elaborated projects.
The Congress Palace and hotel project with more than 3000 places at the Domaine des Pailles, the Taj Hotels project, and IRS (Integrated Resorts Schemes) at Bel-Ombreare as much projects to confirm the sector’s leap into the complex context of globalization. Furthermore, the lifting of the western coastwith a huge hotel project by a powerful triumvirate composed of the  Government of Mauritius, sugar mogul Koenig Frères and major tourism operator, Constance Hotels Ltée, is a definite straight statement of both the private sector’s and government’s will to uplift the sector.
However, not all of this would have been possible if the friendly and ever smiling Mauritian people did not make the choice of offering the warmest welcomes of the world. This same population has accepted the fact that if it wants tourism to create even more wealth, it should be more professional in their hosting act. The Ecole Hôtelière of Ebène (Hotel School) has produced more than 10 000 sharp professionals of the industry since its creation in the 1980’s, showing once more the country’s willpower to be top of the world.
The government’s sensible approach to this ever-growing sector has shown a determined action towards preservation of the environment while incensing the development of Green Tourism. Various nature and green leisure parks have today found their place in the visitor’s circuit.