Flying into Mauritius for the first time, the immediate impression is one of a more developed version of Fiji. While the fringing lagoons, swaying palms, sugar cane fields and jagged mountains might appear the same, looks can be deceiving.
A larger population (1.3 million) and a tourism infrastructure of around 120 resorts makes Mauritius a very different proposition. It’s one that’s being increasingly eyed by Australian incentive and corporate meeting planners looking for a cost-effective alternative to the tropical isle experiences of the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The current political instabilities in the Pacific certainly make a case for Mauritius, particularly for events which are organised well in advance. Mauritius’ proximity to Europe – an 11-12 hour flight – has ensured the development of high quality tourism and hospitality products and services. The island’s resorts at the top end of the market are as good as any in the world, staffed by people who understand the demands of today’s affluent travellers.
For the Australian conference and incentive travel buyer, there’s the advantage of non-stop or one stop flights with Air Mauritius from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and the “wow factor” of an exotic destination with a distinctly French flavour. The island republic is well experienced in welcoming business tourists and the local Creole people are similar to their Pacific counterparts in the warmth of their welcomes. It’s a heady mix of cultures – French, British, Indian, Chinese and African. In a week of travel around the island, everyone I spoke to in the hospitality sector spoke good English and the service culture was second to none.
The most widely spoken languages on Mauritius are French, Creole and Hindi. As I moved around I was struck by the flowering trees, temples, mosques, churches and the colourful costumes of the adherents of the various faiths. There are some 75,000 to 100,000 Mauritians living in Australia and virtually everyone I met in management circles had relatives in Australia or had studied here. They show a far better understanding of this market than many other destinations keen to capture Australian incentive travel business. Director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, Dr Karl Mootoosamy, sees the “big picture” for the island republic as vitally important in the nation’s progress in tourism.
“We have an open democratic process here, liberal laws, press freedom, an openness of mind and progressive social environment. Our people are well educated and the fact we’re seeing a one third of our visitors being repeat business is proof we’re getting it right.”
Dr Mootoosamy says the business tourism sector is a high priority for the Mauritian tourism sector and it and the government is putting significant resources to its promotion.
Vianna Murday is tourism promotion manager for MTPA: “Conference and incentive planners recognise that we haven’t fast-tracked our tourist development and have avoided the imbalances in infrastructure that occur in other parts of the world. We’re very conscious of the environment and many of our golf course developments use treated waste water from the hotels and resorts. There are also plans to make Mauritius virtually duty free in future. This may be some years off, but it will certainly add to the attraction of the island in years to come.”
“We’ve a safe destination and our people are extremely friendly when it comes to looking after children. In addition we are well advanced when it comes to connectivity. Most of the leading resorts offer wireless internet access and we have a thriving information technology sector.”
Mauritius plans to leverage on the Football World Cup in 2010, capturing some of the corporate business that will be heading to South Africa.
Early 2007 saw the largest ever back-to-back meetings held in Mauritius when some 2500 top performers from IBM worldwide visited Mauritius for a three night/four day celebration and motivation.
The island has a number of offsite venues and activities to give visitors a taste of island life and a break from the resorts which dot the coastline in ever increasing numbers.
Australian event planners need to be aware that the applications of star ratings is used quite loosely in Mauritius. Where a resort might claim to be a four-star, there may well be blue sky between that and what you might perceive to be five-star. Even the five-star bracket has many gradations in the vocabulary of the hoteliers. But rest assured, the best of the best is truly exceptional and probably exceeds anything Australia offers the incentive travel buyer.
One of the factors that gives Mauritius a significant advantage is the half board concept which has guests being covered for dinner, bed and breakfast. This cuts costs significantly and the top resorts all offer shows most nights, making it something like shipboard life where food and entertainment is covered in one price. Taking air fares, accommodation and activities into account, a weeklong Mauritian incentive can leave change from $5000 per person.
The only consistent thing about their response is that the 200 guest-room Le Touessrok is invariably among them. Jutting into the sparkling azure ocean of the Mauritian east coast, it’s remarkable that Le Touessrok has held its exalted position for nearly three decades and shows no sign of relinquishing it.
Its former sister property, the One & Only Le Saint Géran is fondly known as the “Grande Dame” and Le Touessrok as “the Sexy Lady”.
Think Australia’s Hayman and then add at least 50 per cent. Le Touessrok has up to 1000 staff and is located on a narrow peninsula, giving all guests sweeping tropical island views. The Frangipani Wing on its own island underwent a complete reconstruction four years ago and the suites certainly match expectations from such an exotic location. The suites have those decadent egg-shape baths in the centre of bathrooms, plasma TV screens and round the clock butler service. There are several great touches at the resort, such as having red and blue flags when you’re on a sun bed on the beach. Red means “service now please” and blue is for privacy. In addition there’s a friendly young woman circling the pools and beach to provide sunglass cleaning. There’s a “quiet pool” which is child free for adults who prefer to relax without the squeals of youngsters. A short boat-ride away is the extraordinary Ile aux Cerfs, home to the 18-hole Bernhard Langer-designed championship golf course, and Ilot Mangénie, the resort’s own island retreat, is just five minutes away by private boat. If you have to meet, the resort offers several function rooms with space for several hundred attendees sitting theatre-style.
Restaurant snapshot at Le Touessrok:
• Three-Nine-Eight, which overlooks the pool and Trou d`Eau Douce Bay and is located over three levels and has capacity for 350 guests. The service style is buffet and features the cuisines of nine countries, much of which is freshly cooked during the meal. It’s culinary theatre.
• Barlens is the seafood fine dining restaurant and serves a holistic spa breakfast. It has wooden floors and a thatched roof, is located right on the beach, and has capacity for 120 diners.
• Safran is located in an atmospheric circular timber building and serves a wide range of classic Indian fare. There’s also a sampler menu, which would be a great way to go with a group. The restaurant can be used for exclusive use and seats 56.
• The Sega Bar serves salads and light meals and offers a light airy space for lunch after a session at the beach or the pool.
Le Touessrok’s sister property catering to the events market is Sugar Beach Resort. Sugar Beach Resort is adjacent to La Pirogue Hotel on the leeward west coast of Mauritius at Flic en Flac.
Also consider Sugar Beach
The resort has easy access to the commercial centres of Port Louis and Curepipe as well as the marlin fishing clubs of Black River. The colonial architecture comprises 16 villas, each containing 10 rooms. The Manor House and central reception buildings are spread out over the landscaped tropical gardens and enjoy absolute beachfront.
Sugar Beach has a conference centre that takes up to 350 delegates, 170 standard guest rooms, with seven villas containing 66 rooms on the beachfront. In August 2007 the resort is fully booked for a 400 strong corporate group from Australia. I had dinner on the beach with a party of French incentive travel planners. They’d made the trip from Paris for just a couple of days and were blown away by the balmy conditions, the bonfires on the beach and the fact they could see stars, apparently a rare occurrence at home. Dinner, classic French fare, came from the nearby Citronellas Café with service attentive and well paced.
The resort’s Mon Plaisir Restaurant has space for 420 guests and an outdoor dining terrace for 200. Like many Mauritian resorts, this restaurant has a program of themed buffets, complemented by an a la carte service. Next door at La Pirogue, another Sun Resorts property, the Paul & Virginie Restaurant has space for 120 guests and specialises in fresh fish, seafood grills and barbecued meats. There’s significant interchange between the two resorts for group events.
In September 2006, Julie Ford of GET (Group Event Travel) in Sydney took some 80 clients in the hospitality sector for a week to the Hilton at Flic en Flac in Mauritius. The resort lies on a beautiful sweep of beach, framed by spectacular remnants of the island’s volcanic past. With destination management services supplied by David Collard of Solis Indian Ocean, the group had a mix of organised and individual leisure activities to fill up their days and nights.
“We were very impressed with both the hotel and the DMC,” said Julie Ford.
“We found the service standards up with the very best we’ve had anywhere and we thought they gave us great value for money.”
There were several highlights, one being a visit to the race course in Port Louis, the nation’s capital.
“The Mauritians are passionate about their horse racing and it was like being at a country race meeting. Our guests really enjoyed themselves and got into the atmosphere of the day.”
On another day the group explored the island’s dramatic coastline by catamaran. A range of touring options saw them fan out across Mauritius for half day tours which allowed them plenty of time to relax and catch up with one another at the Hilton. The gala farewell dinner had an African theme, with the guests taken on a mystery coach ride before an army of “warriors” halted the coaches and took charge ahead of the night’s revelry. They had a unique dance floor, with the hollow interior of a giant banyan tree, superbly lit, forming the dance floor.
“The groups and events manager at the Hilton, Ben Ramen, was excellent in every respect and we really felt we were in good hands,” Ms Ford said.
“We were obliged to be in Mauritius for a week due to the Air Mauritius flight, but it certainly didn’t feel we were there for too long.”
Another happy client
Captain Choice Tours is an upmarket charter tour operation run by Phil Asker of Croydon Travel in Melbourne. He’s used the Hilton and Solis Indian Ocean twice for two days of relaxation for his clients at the end of their Asia and Africa 21-day adventure. The parties of around 280 used Qantas Boeing 747 and 767s for their trips.
“The check-in at the Hilton on each occasion was the quickest and most efficient I’ve ever encountered,” he said.
“Our clients loved the hotel and we certainly will keep Mauritius on our programs in the future.”
Le Touessrok is a Mediterranean-style village, spread along a kilometre of beach and a private island called Frangipani, which is linked to the lobby by a spectacular wooden bridge.
The huge infinity pool, around which are found two restaurants and a bar, seems to meet the sea and together reflect the deep blue of the sky. At night, the pool mirrors the glitter and swing on the dance floor as the live band takes everyone by storm. Along Hibiscus beach, 105 of the rooms and suites stand amongst the sway of palm trees, together with six tennis courts and three private villas. The rest of the 95 suites are located on Frangipani Island which also holds a Givenchy Spa, an “a la carte” restaurant and a stunning natural stone pool. A five-minute boat ride away are two islands which complete this Mediterranean village-style resort. Illot Mangénie, the resort’s private retreat reserved exclusively for residents of Le Touessrok and Ile aux Cerfs island, which features an extraordinary 7000-yard, 18-hole championship golf course designed by Bernhard Langer. The mere beauty of this place is very hard to describe as your senses are tantalised at every turn. The décor breathes contemporary chic, sophistication and a touch of spice while the genuine friendliness of the staff makes you so feel so welcome and rewarded. Justice would not be done without mention (if not praise) for the exceptional quality and variety of Le Touessrok’s cuisine which brings together flavours of Africa, Europe, India, Japan and south east Asia, all with great skill. Add to that the magic and mystery of a themed evening and one is literally transported!
Start with a message in a bottle – your personal invitation; a cheerful boat ride to Ile aux Cerfs with the “djembe” beating to the rhythm of the breeze; a bonfire awaiting onshore with dance troupe, cocktails and flower garlands; walk along in the sand under the sway of filao trees to where a bountiful ship wreckers buffet is laid out under the stars. Le Touessrok’s acclaimed Rum and Jazz Band plays on, past pumpkin time – there are no neighbours after all – till the sky lights up in colours announcing fireworks… or daylight. Recipient of numerous industry awards from the international MICE community, Le Touessrok has shown great versatility and innovation in meeting the ever-changing needs of its discerning clientele.
Sugar Beach Resort could possibly be best described as the natural choice for any DMC looking for a beach resort that has a sense of place; easy and speedy access from airport and towns; international service standards and facilities; excellent cuisine; fully comprehensive meeting and conference solutions; adequate recreational facilities; enough space for private outdoor functions; experienced personnel and spectacular sunsets! Indeed, Sugar Beach Resort is laid out as a French colonial sugar plantation with a manor house overlooking immaculate lawns and villas dispersed in the gardens along a semi-circle, all facing the beautiful blue lagoon along one kilometre of beach. The resort is found on the west coast of the island, a mere 20 minutes from the Capital city, major shopping towns and tourist attractions. Local folklore and culture abound in the resort’s themed evenings and include sunset Sega shows, Mauritian seafood barbecue; shipwreck evenings; Indian wedding feasts, but also French colonial gala dinners with silver service and even garage parties! Daytime activities cater for all likes: water polo, aerobics, aqua gym, yoga, beach volleyball, petanque and a host of water sports including scuba diving and deep sea fishing. Let’s not forget the pampering options like massages, pedicures and all other beauty treatments. What is probably most striking is the attention to detail. For instance the personalised little jars of delicious flavoured rum in your room when you arrive or the chocolate calligraphy of your name along the side of your tiramisu or better still how each time your coffee appears next to you just the way you like it! The Mediterranean restaurant, Citronella’s Café definitely serves the best risotto on the island. The resort’s conference centre is an extremely versatile facility which can be divided into three sub commission rooms, with adjoining veranda and an open air terrace, ideal for tea breaks. A fully-equipped operations room can also be made available, complete with PC, fax, photocopier and broadband internet access. And help is also readily available from the resort’s capable team – all delivered with enthusiasm and pride.
For more information visit oneandonlyletouessrok.com or sugarbeachresort.com
Café des Arts
There’s a living link with history in the cane fields of the Mauritian west coast. At the 1840s Victoria Old Sugar Mill, a light and airy restaurant doubles as an art gallery featuring the work of Yvette Maniglier, a famous French artist and mother of the Café des Arts owner, Jocelyn Gonzalez.
What makes this special is that 84-year-old Maniglier was the last pupil of the great French Impressionist Henri Matisse, who died in 1954. She’s still a prolific painter and the walls are awash with colour from her bold and interesting work. Jocelyn and wife Patricia bring plenty of experience from the hospitality industry to this airy and pleasant place, providing an excellent alternative to the resort restaurants and themed events. It’s a place in the words of Jocelyn Gonzalez that is “a high place dedicated to culture, art and gastronomy”.
The Café des Arts caters mostly for private functions, but also operates as a restaurant where there’s a flat charge of around $100 for a three course dinner. The Mauritian resorts tend to have the lion’s share of the functions and Café des Arts provides a cheerful alternative. The artworks of Maniglier are busy and cheerful and there are also some limited edition art photographs of celebrities such as supermodel Naomi Campbell which retail for a cool E5000. The restaurant hosts just 50 guests but there’s plenty of space for a marquee in the spacious grounds. A massive Banyan tree in the garden is floodlit to add to the atmosphere of the night and a sense of theatre is created through some artful lighting.
Eureka House
Eureka House is one of Mauritius’s best-preserved examples of Creole architecture and dates from the early 19th century. The elegant home in the central area of Mauritius known as Moka has some 109 doors, to optimise the island breezes for cooling. Lunches and dinners featuring traditional Creole fare with chutneys and spices, which are flavoursome rather than purely hot, can be held either on the verandah of the homestead or in a marquee on the spacious lawns. The house has a priceless collection of antique furniture, much of which is still in daily use. Karl Braunecker, the managing director of Connections, a leading Mauritian destination management company, has used the grounds and house effectively for traditional “colonial” balls to great effect. There are hectares aplenty for games and pre-dinner drinks.
Upon arrival the group is welcomed at Le Billard to the sounds of the Mauritian Police Band. The owner of Eureka, an old colonialist, will welcome the participants. Pre-dinner drinks will be served on the extensive lawn in front of the pavilion. Waiters are dressed in colonial style and the Mauritian Police Band is on hand to accompany the guests to the Colonial House, with torches and small lights lighting up the way. Another option from Connections is the Domaine Les Pailles, a unique reconstruction of an old sugar estate reminiscent of the 18th century. Guests arrive at the old sugar mill where a welcome fruit cocktail and local snacks are served. After a tour of the distillery, a short walk takes the group to the Indra Restaurant – one of the top restaurants on the island – where guests are welcomed with a garland with the petals and tikka ahead of a light Indian menu.
Rev it up at l’Etoile
The interior of the island is well worth exploring though you can give most towns a miss. It seems a great opportunity is going missing in the villages where a bit of a clean-up and a showcase of arts, crafts and cuisine would help bridge the divide between locals and visitors. At L’Etoile, a 7000-acre nature area, a squadron of easy to ride quad bikes awaits for a three hour-plus exploration of hills and valleys where monkeys, graceful deer and kestrels reside, with huge views over the island. Your guide will show you some of the indigenous plants and trees and also some of the many introduced spices, such as cinnamon in the wild. A half day tour with Mauritian buffet lunch in a thatched dining space and archery lesson retails for around $90.
 Teamwork made fun
Vertical World is an outdoor adventure company which is carving a niche in the experiential training arena. The company’s enthusiastic founder, Krish Hardoward, qualified in America in outdoor education. He recently organised an orienteering day for a group of 220 Daimler-Chrysler incentive travel winners from Europe. With exclusive access to a magnificent valley used for hunting, the guests undertook an orienteering course where team progress was reported and monitored using SMS via a program written by Mr Hardoward. For this exercise he was able to rustle up some 70 part-time assistants. The landscape on which he runs his exercises is quite dramatic and is dotted with structures for the hunters who use this area to cull the deer herd over a 30-day period in the Mauritian winter. Other activities on offer from Vertical World are hiking, canyoning, rock-climbing and adventure holidays.
“Some people are quite content to just look at a waterfall or a beautiful view, but others feel the need to be part of it. They need to be in the waterfall, on the trails, in the middle of a cliff,” says Mr Hardoward.
Go shopping
Shopping is a high priority for many leisure and incentive travellers and while Mauritius is no hardcore shopping destination, there’s a good array of locally produced jewellery. Be prepared to bargain. It’s not as combative as some parts of Asia, but it does seem mean to beat them down when you’re staying in such luxury compared to their lives. The main town, Port Louis, has yet to capitalise on its waterfront’s tourist potential, but there are nonetheless several markets where goods have interest for tourists. The town has some interesting buildings reflecting the colonial era and it’s worth making time to stroll for a couple of hours. If you’re a bit of a hobby enthusiast the island is renowned for its scale model sailing ships which are made from naval architectural plans from centuries past. The timberwork and detail is astonishing. The tradition for this work is relatively recent and it provides a real point of difference in terms of the retail offer. A cross-section of a typical tall ship could make a very different pillow gift.
Mauritius also has a significant textile industry and a visit to some factory shops in the second city of Curepipe could make for a partners’ program or be combined with a day at the l’Etoile quad biking excursion.
Tried and tested by Solterbeck
Solterbeck in Melbourne is one of Australia’s leading incentive houses and has perhaps the most experience of Mauritius, having used the island as a reward for their clients’ top achievers upwards of 10 times in recent years. Most recently Heather Dean, a Solterbeck director, ran a conference and entertainment program for 110 insurance agents at the Hilton Mauritius, using the services of Solis Indian Ocean.
“We chose the Hilton after looking at four or five resorts and gave them the business as they provided the best quality and value for money. They were very responsive to our needs at every turn,” she said.
“We had the half-board arrangement and they were quite prepared to provide a lunch to compensate the days we had an off-site dinner.”
The program included a catamaran cruise with barbecue lunch, a Sega dinner at the Hilton on the beach, an African theme dinner at the Yemen Nature Park and a race day at Port Louis where the insurance company sponsored the entire afternoon.
“Even the strappers had the t-shirts of our clients, which all added to the buzz of the day.”
Yoga sessions, spa treatments and cooking lessons would fill out the days in Mauritius and Ms Dean says the real strength of the program was the easy networking it provided the participants.
“Most of the participants run their own businesses and can be quite isolated from one another, with the annual incentive/conference providing the only time for them to bounce ideas off one another.”
I didn’t have the opportunity to visit, but if its sister property Belle Mare Plage is anything to go by, Le Prince has to be something quite special. Constance Belle Mare Plage, The Resort, to give its full title, is big on golf, with two championship courses, one of which winds through a forest where antlered Javanese deer roam. Hotel guests have green fee free access to the course and fully 60 per cent of the guests at the resort get around to a game during their stay. At 20 degrees south, Mauritius does not suffer from excessive humidity for all but a couple of summer months and players arrive in the knowledge that the island has almost 300 days of sunshine per annum. The resort opened in 1975 and has been extensively redeveloped over the years, the most notable addition being the villas in 2001, with their private swimming pools and dedicated butler service. There’s plenty happening at the resort. One of the recent highlights was the launch of a culinary festival at La Belle Plage. Chefs from six award-winning European kitchens participated, with the winning dish embodying Mauritian fare, a fish known as ‘guele pavée’. Heart of palm also features strongly in Mauritian cooking and is used artfully in a wide range of ways. At Le Prince Maurice, the Spa de Constance offers a wide range of treatments using the techniques of l’Institute de Guerlian. Over at La Belle Plage, the Shiseido Q1 is the method of choice. It uses the pressure points of Shiatsu in conjunction with the use of hot Japanese towels to free the senses.
In a League of its Own
Now a stand-alone resort for the first time in nearly three decades, the One & Only Le Saint Géran occupies a spectacular beach location on the west coast, about 20 minutes north of Le Touessrok. The resort is home to an Alain Ducasse Spoon restaurant, bringing the upper echelon of French cuisine to the resort experience. Published rates range from around $850 a night to $12,500 a night for the 162 suites and one villa, so it would need to be a fairly exclusive group to book a week’s stay as an incentive reward. You get a pillow menu and mist-free mirrors for that. The rooms are significantly larger than the average resort and there are great sea and beach views to be had. It’s very evident the property has been meticulously maintained and just about everywhere the eye lands is a point of interest – sculpture, flower arrangements, elegant restaurants… it’s got the lot. In addition there is the nine-hole Gary Player golf course, Givenchy Spa and other recreational activities. A complimentary shuttle provides transportation between the two resorts.
 Ambre Resort, La Plantation and Indian Resort & Spa are owned by construction interests in the nearby island of Reunion. In Australian terms they are in the three to four star category. La Plantation with 270 rooms on the north-west coast of Mauritius would be three-star rated in Australia and is due for a major renovation as its rooms and public areas have been worked hard thanks to the ongoing success of the destination. The resort is well endowed with trees and offers guests river and beach views. It also has an extensive shallow pool providing a sense of cool and calm. Ambre in the fashionable Belle Mare on the east coast offers 298 rooms, a splendid lobby and a wonderful beachfront location. There’s one conference room, with space for 120 guests, but one imagines it would be a challenge to get them confined in such a perfect location. The Indian Resort & Spa on the far south east of Mauritius is the largest resort hotel in the Indian Ocean, with some 349 rooms and a further 100 on the way. The hotel lies between a towering mountain and a pristine lagoon. An elaborate spa area with swimming pool and indoor and outdoor treatment areas gives guests a complete break from the rest of the resort.
Concern over bird flu in Asia caused the switch of an incentive reward program for 15 top Mercedes Benz dealers from Vietnam to Mauritius in May 2006. It proved an inspired choice by NGT Incentives who were managing the program for Mercedes Australia. Le Meridien Resort & Spa is located along a stretch of pristine coastline in the north west of Mauritius where many of the island’s most prestigious resorts are located. It has the largest ballroom and dedicated meeting space of a resort in Mauritius. The program was geared to ensure the participants, who lead extremely busy lives, the chance to really relax, according to the operations manager for NGT for this group, Rene Landsman.
“We consulted closely with our DMC to ensure our guests made the most of their time without feeling rushed in any way,” she said.
“We had a sail cruise on a beautiful catamaran to the north of the island where they had a chance to snorkel and take it easy. We also did the quad bike tour of the Yemen Nature Park, which has a bird sanctuary and a number of African animals.”
Ms Landsman said a cooking class at Domaine Les Pailles had been well received as had a shopping expedition to Port Louis.
“A six-night program works well and gives people time to really make the most of the destination. I think it’s important, however, that a site inspection be carried out before settling on a particular hotel.”
The resort hosts around 20 conferences a year and has welcomed a number of Australian groups in recent times. The gardens are extremely spacious and are used for a wide variety of events. There’s significant under-cover space for wet weather contingency. Groups of around 60 will have an entire wing to themselves, including the gardens for functions.
There’s water features all around the resort and much use has been made of the distinctive dark lava stones, common to Mauritius. A group of Subaru sales executives from France and Germany were resident at the Hilton during my stay. They arrived in two waves of around 110 each. Their program included an off-site dinner in Flic en Flac at a Chinese restaurant, a free day to enjoy the resort, a rally in Suzuki mini-4WDs, (though re-badged to Subaru for the day) and a gala dinner with traditional Mauritian fare and Sega dancing. (Sega is the traditional dance of the region which typically comprises lithe young women shimmying around in the sand to the beat of drums and triangles). Most conferences adopt the half-board meal deal which includes accommodation, breakfast and dinner, though there is a move away to simply bed & breakfast on the part of the top resorts.
Less structure, more free time
Karl Braunecker of Connections wisely cautions against event planners putting too much structure into their guests’ Mauritian adventure.
“I know I’m perhaps talking against my own interests, but I feel many people on group events like an incentive reward want to have time just to relax among themselves at a resort,” he says.
“Often these people live very busy lives and getting that spare afternoon or evening just to do whatever takes their fancy is very important. Mauritius shouldn’t be a high pressure destination, ever.”
What did surprise me on checking into Legends, a Naiade Resorts property on the north of the island, was the attention to detail. I was still exploring my beachfront suite, eyeing the South African bubbly on ice in my bathroom basin, when a man arrived to unpack my suitcase.
 As he was leaving another visitor arrived in the form of the “soap man” who offered a smorgasbord of soaps of various textures and fragrances for me to try. When I made my selection he carefully scraped off a pile of soap shavings and put them into a small muslin bag with instructions on how to use it. The resident manager also popped in to check that everything was in order in my junior suite which included a spa bath with views and a spacious sundeck set up for alfresco dining. Like the art of bathing, Legends has also embraced Feng Shui, the Chinese study of form and shape within the environment, and this is built into every aspect of this fine four-year-old Naiade Resorts property. With its French heritage the food and beverage offer in Mauritius is significantly ahead of the run of the mill resorts in the Pacific, helped no doubt by the substantial volume of guests – some 750,000 international visitors a year. For example, Legends has just introduced a fine dining concept where five courses are offered with the same product prepared in three different ways. The courses include salmon, fish, duck, foie gras, tomato and strawberry with selected wines to match the food. It’s subtle, light and clever in its conception and delivery. It’s like a top class degustation menu with added interest in the different ways the same product is treated by the master chefs – a memorable repast for a corporate group. Much the same applies at the Beau Rivage, another significant operation of Naiade Resorts on the western shore of Mauritius. The flagship of the Naiade group, nothing is spared to ensure its guests feel pampered and privileged from the moment they arrive. The beach sand is swept, and there are staff everywhere to see that every whim is catered for. Under its colonial style thatch roof, Mauritian hospitality and tropical elegance are celebrated.
Through the week Beau Rivage reveals aspects of Mauritius through insights into the cultures that have influenced its history – shades of Africa, India and China, and for a whole day at a time, the hotel takes on the character of one of the traditional cultures though music, performance and cuisine. It is tailor-made for incentive rewards. Like many Mauritius resorts there is live music every evening at Beau Rivage and water skiing is among the free activities on offer. This certainly helps contain costs for groups as the standard of entertainment is good and allows them to alternate between dedicated events and the pleasure of dining with friends at the resort. There are four restaurants at Beau Rivage. I chose the casual beachfront La Mediterannée, which served up a fish broth, a pasta and beer which gave me change from $30 – excellent value. Managed by the Naiade group, Isle de Coco was the private playground of the Governor of Mauritius and is located just off the southern tip of the island in a marine park. There’s snorkelling and glass bottom boat coral reef tours run from the island, which is only a couple of minutes off the mainland village of Blue Bay. Spacious couches and tented shading adds a taste of luxury for visitors. Catering for groups up to 300 comes from the kitchens of the Beau Rivage resort on the east coast. There’s also a comfortable two bedroom villa from the colonial days where two couples can stay overnight and be attended hand and foot by a team of 10.
The airline has a bullish view of the tourism industry on the island to the extent that Raj Bhujohory of Air Mauritius predicts an explosion of new resorts in the next decade. Mr Bhujohory, who is responsible for the airline’s activities in the Australasian region, says there’s great potential for the interior of the island to open up for tourism with golf estates and integrated residential schemes.
“In addition to the services provided by Air Mauritius, there’s a general opening up of the skies, with carriers like Emirates feeding substantial numbers of holiday visitors. We have excellent connections to Europe and South Africa for travellers from Australia,” he explains.
“More carriers are applying for access to Mauritius and we expect to see the number of high yield business tourists to increase significantly in the years to come. The airline is getting behind the golf market in a big way. We’ve sponsored a major golf tournament that we feel has great potential. We anticipate we’ll have upwards of 2000 golfers coming in for the event.”
Raj Bhujohory, like airline executives the world over, is eyeing the growth of the outbound markets from India and China with great interest. Mauritius is just six hours from Mumbai, though China might prove a tougher nut to crack. Perth appears set to become a significant hub for Australians wishing to visit Mauritius. The number of available seats is set to double next year with two 300-seater Air Mauritius aircraft touching down weekly in Western Australia from 2007.
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