The Hindu : National : No visa needed for travel to Mauritius

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

National

National

No visa needed for travel to Mauritius

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, OCT. 13. As part of its efforts to promote business and tourist traffic from India, the Mauritius Government has announced that "no visas" are required for a 15-day stay, provided the visitors have a confirmed return air ticket and sufficient funds.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Mauritius, V. Raman, said this visa relaxation follows the opening up of the civil aviation sector, especially on the South Asian regional routes, to private carriers.

Boost to tourism

This visa relaxation would provide a boost to the Information Technology professionals, prospective Indian business investors and tourist traffic. He said he was confident that the decision would spur travel agents in India to come up with attractive packages for medium budget tourists. Sports tourism, eco-tourism and film tourism would be the focus of their campaign to woo tourists of all ages.

Seventyeight per cent of people of Mauritius are of Indian origin, of which one-third constitute those of Tamil origin.

Air Mauritius had decided to convert its once-a-week 175-seater Boeing-767 link between Chennai and Mauritius to a bi-weekly service from December, said Rajesh Bushgeet, Air Mauritius manager for South India.

The airline has also sought permission to enhance "operating rights" with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for increasing the number of weekly connections between India and Mauritius from nine to 12.

The roundtrip fare for the five-and-a-half hour air journey from Chennai to Mauritius was Rs. 18,100.

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