The Mauritian tourist board has reported a rise in multi-generation trips after the pandemic, with extended families booking beach holidays.
As well as Mauritius’s popularity as a wedding and honeymoon destination, multi-generation family trips have made a strong contribution to the country’s tourism recovery, said Arvind Bundhun, director of tourism for the Mauritius Tourism promotion Authority.
Family groups are keen to take part in activities where they can learn, said Bundhun. “The learning aspect is very important. There are nice stories of conservation and the educational aspect where kids can learn about marine life and how it’s being protected,” he told Travel Weekly at WTM.
Activities such as cooking lessons are also popular with families.
Before the pandemic, Mauritius attracted 140,000 tourists per year from the UK, said Bundhun, while this year there were 96,163 from January to September 2022 – with a spike after the country scrapped Covid-19 testing requirements on 1 July.