Develop human resources
Control inflation
Improve fiscal policy
Liberalize financial markets
Increase trade with neighbors
Increase productivity
Improve infrastructure
Diversify exports and markets
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, January 3, 2009
RS 10bn Mauritius Bailout
Mauritius needs to be growing at 3.5% or above, to service its debt and keep growth steady.
$300 million in stimulus.
This year's growth has been lowered all the way down from 6.3% to 5%. And next year Mauritius will be close to that 3.5% threshold. I think the 3.5% is pretty safe in the sense that a lot of the financing for the construction industry is already in place, a lot of the projects will either continue through 09 or start in 09 regardless.
The two major sectors to watch are Finance and Tourism. Which combined account for about 40% of the economy (in long term growth terms) and really where most of the growth comes from outside of construction and textiles.
I think the ICT sector will be fine. It will give us sometime to breathe in the ICT sector as well as respond to many of the complaints in the ICT sector, such as lack of skills and infrastructure.
The Indian government has been changing some laws to ease access to foreign financing in India - that should hopefully keep the Finance sector busy. It is also a greate opportunity for the Finance industry to re-assess it's model though, as you will see immense pressure come against tax havens. I really think they should push ahead with the African Commodities Exchange and work to change the banking regulations and to really push Private Wealth Management.
The Property sector will be fine, although the pace of construction and these RES will probably slow down, it will be boosted by two major factors. One, it is a place to stash your cash during a downturn (the only thing that would put people off would be deflation; although the quality of property in Mauritius is of such high quality, people invest in Mauritian property more so for tax status or property value, not as investment, or to flip). Secondly, with continuing friction in South Africa, the appeal of Mauritius is back on their radar screen from incorporating companies to peace of mind. I also think Europeans will still be interested in Mauritius especially those who have pulled out their money from the stock markets, and are looking for a place to put that money to work. With regard to the property sector - the most important thing is to really to assess, where does Mauritius want to go with this, and how will we integrate a property market into our economy. How do we get the Properties that are being built to generate cash for the economy? People buying and selling property is a nominal cash flow. What really generates $ from a vibrant property market are the related services to the property. Internet, TV, Shopping, Banking, Laundry, Transportation, Labor services, entertainment, retail, etc.
What people should be looking to do across all sectors and all players, prviate and public.
Is how to adjust our models, be it tourism, property, financial services, to adjust to what's coming ahead of us. And crucially how do we become more productive and efficient. Thirdly, and this is a huge loss to Mauritius, are the loss opportunity costs/variables. A lot of the projects/developments that have been going at breakneck speed over the past 2 years, are poorly
integrated. There is a serious lack of vision beyond doing anything that will generate cash.
For instance, the IRS developments have been done in complete isolation to many other services and industries which could have been pushed, such as private wealth management (in the finance sector), shopping, eco-friendly technology (don't just allow people to buy stuff from Germany, we can at least start of with companies that service, and produce parts), organic food (this would be a national security concern also, lets produce some of our own food), building and servicing yachts (manufacturing), the entertainment scene, print media like magazines, a national theater, African Heritage museum, an annual fashion show, grand prix (fed by many other related industries) > all these things can be viewed as a whole from the tourism perspective: you have the long term client in the IRS people, and the short term clients in the tourists who come for a week, the growing return of Mauritian diaspora, the business hub. We are turning from being a mostly green island to becoming a concrete one; what are we going to do with all this concrete? It's also a time for Mauritian companies who are well capitalized to tap the region, East Africa and the Middle East in particular. Anything within 5hrs flight time. And most importantly put the incentives there for people to be allowed to use their imagination (not just legislation, but knock down monopolies, and barriers to entry) - the government doesn't have to think of everything; it's job is to intelligently pull things together, to maximize productivity, create efficiency, and allow innovation. This is only an example for the IRS area, but many of the concepts from the IRS area can be integrated into other sectors, people putting and managing their private wealth - could be a springboard for investment into our own economy and the regional economy. Private wealth would also draw investment funds to be based in Mauritius as well. There things from the tourism and IRS sector which can naturally fit or complement the regional hub concept. Mauritius should have a national plan, a 3 to 5 year plan, like Singapore has.
Nestle is opening a manufacturing plant for Africa in Mauritius.
http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnJOE4BJ06W.html
by Namiko
$300 million in stimulus.
This year's growth has been lowered all the way down from 6.3% to 5%. And next year Mauritius will be close to that 3.5% threshold. I think the 3.5% is pretty safe in the sense that a lot of the financing for the construction industry is already in place, a lot of the projects will either continue through 09 or start in 09 regardless.
The two major sectors to watch are Finance and Tourism. Which combined account for about 40% of the economy (in long term growth terms) and really where most of the growth comes from outside of construction and textiles.
I think the ICT sector will be fine. It will give us sometime to breathe in the ICT sector as well as respond to many of the complaints in the ICT sector, such as lack of skills and infrastructure.
The Indian government has been changing some laws to ease access to foreign financing in India - that should hopefully keep the Finance sector busy. It is also a greate opportunity for the Finance industry to re-assess it's model though, as you will see immense pressure come against tax havens. I really think they should push ahead with the African Commodities Exchange and work to change the banking regulations and to really push Private Wealth Management.
The Property sector will be fine, although the pace of construction and these RES will probably slow down, it will be boosted by two major factors. One, it is a place to stash your cash during a downturn (the only thing that would put people off would be deflation; although the quality of property in Mauritius is of such high quality, people invest in Mauritian property more so for tax status or property value, not as investment, or to flip). Secondly, with continuing friction in South Africa, the appeal of Mauritius is back on their radar screen from incorporating companies to peace of mind. I also think Europeans will still be interested in Mauritius especially those who have pulled out their money from the stock markets, and are looking for a place to put that money to work. With regard to the property sector - the most important thing is to really to assess, where does Mauritius want to go with this, and how will we integrate a property market into our economy. How do we get the Properties that are being built to generate cash for the economy? People buying and selling property is a nominal cash flow. What really generates $ from a vibrant property market are the related services to the property. Internet, TV, Shopping, Banking, Laundry, Transportation, Labor services, entertainment, retail, etc.
What people should be looking to do across all sectors and all players, prviate and public.
Is how to adjust our models, be it tourism, property, financial services, to adjust to what's coming ahead of us. And crucially how do we become more productive and efficient. Thirdly, and this is a huge loss to Mauritius, are the loss opportunity costs/variables. A lot of the projects/developments that have been going at breakneck speed over the past 2 years, are poorly
integrated. There is a serious lack of vision beyond doing anything that will generate cash.
For instance, the IRS developments have been done in complete isolation to many other services and industries which could have been pushed, such as private wealth management (in the finance sector), shopping, eco-friendly technology (don't just allow people to buy stuff from Germany, we can at least start of with companies that service, and produce parts), organic food (this would be a national security concern also, lets produce some of our own food), building and servicing yachts (manufacturing), the entertainment scene, print media like magazines, a national theater, African Heritage museum, an annual fashion show, grand prix (fed by many other related industries) > all these things can be viewed as a whole from the tourism perspective: you have the long term client in the IRS people, and the short term clients in the tourists who come for a week, the growing return of Mauritian diaspora, the business hub. We are turning from being a mostly green island to becoming a concrete one; what are we going to do with all this concrete? It's also a time for Mauritian companies who are well capitalized to tap the region, East Africa and the Middle East in particular. Anything within 5hrs flight time. And most importantly put the incentives there for people to be allowed to use their imagination (not just legislation, but knock down monopolies, and barriers to entry) - the government doesn't have to think of everything; it's job is to intelligently pull things together, to maximize productivity, create efficiency, and allow innovation. This is only an example for the IRS area, but many of the concepts from the IRS area can be integrated into other sectors, people putting and managing their private wealth - could be a springboard for investment into our own economy and the regional economy. Private wealth would also draw investment funds to be based in Mauritius as well. There things from the tourism and IRS sector which can naturally fit or complement the regional hub concept. Mauritius should have a national plan, a 3 to 5 year plan, like Singapore has.
Nestle is opening a manufacturing plant for Africa in Mauritius.
http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnJOE4BJ06W.html
by Namiko
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
African Commodity Exchange | Mauritius
On February 20th 2008, the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius licensed Financial Technologies of India to operate a commodities exchange in Mauritius. The operating company is called Global Board of Trade Ltd. Many institutions and those who write for this blog have been clamoring for years for Mauritius to set up a pan-African commodities exchange and an African Dollar Market. However, as of today in typical Mauritian fashion it hasn't been set up yet :( althought the press release claims it should be ready by Q3 of this year. That would be great timing since Commodities markets are in a bull-run right now, I truly hope in a few months we won't be saying that by the time the exchange comes on stream the commodities bubble is about to burst, the worst time to be starting up such an exchange. GBOT is supposed to be a commodities exchange at first and a multi-asset exchange later on,similar to the Multi Commodity Exchange of India, which is also operated by FTIL, and presumably similar to the Singapore Mercantile Exchange which just came on stream today developed by FTIL. This is what's planned according to FTIL.
The Commodity Exchange is slated to be the first pan-African, derivatives exchange and a gateway to serve the African continent. GBOT will be an electronic trading platform with its central matching engine connected by VSAT / internet to terminals of members in their own offices, in any part of the world. It will start operations with trade in commodity derivatives and subsequently, expand to include other asset classes such as equity, bonds, and currency derivatives as well as ‘exotic’ commodities such as carbon credits, and indices."
Pretty cool, the most difficult issue though will be getting traction in a very unsophisticated market. Those who would use the exchange are likely to be multinationals who could probably trade elsewhere. It will have to find a niche for itself, educate SME's on how to use forward contracts, and try to get a piece from some of the larger actors in the market, especially in the metals, oil, agriculture, and gemstones areas - there needs to be a political push with the African countries which possess such commodities to make this work.
From a more serious point of view, it will be interesting to see what the Governing Law provisions will look like, the FSC, something along the lines of the Courts of Mauritius have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute, claim, grievance, or controversy arising in connection with GBOT market contracts? What about enforcement and "no objection letters from overseas jurisdictions" don't know where the FSC and GBOT are on this front.
A good place for more general information: detailed, and basic.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
An Urban Redevelopment Authority for Port Louis
Port Louis has been losing its glamor and is increasingly shunned by the government and developers. With new development projects and business parks being built outside the capital, ebene, rose belle, highlands, tianli, to name a few, PL is starting to lose it's status as the cultural, financial, and political center of Mauritius. PL today from a planning and Port Louisian perspective is a city of contrasts, from the colorful waterfront next to the port and the glitzy MT building, houses of parliament, chinatown, to the more residential areas of valet-pitot and pleine verte, to chickens and goats grazing on side of the street. Although PL has all the bells and whistles to be a world class international city it has suffered from an extreme lack of investment in both infrastructure and property development. The city has everything from a historic race track to a 17th century citadel, a bustling chinatown and financial district, dying cultural scenes and art scenes, decrepit colonial buildings, plazas, mosques, cathedrals, temples, a grand market, narrow streets, and parks, all surrounded by spectacular mountains and the Indian ocean. Port Louis has the foundation to grow organically unlike many of the planned (bland) development projects suggested by the government. It has a soul (ever so weak) and pulse (during the day at least), it has character, a feel, a vibe, in addition to 300 years of history. With the exodus of most of the middle class to the Rose-Hill, Vacois, Quatre-Bornes pan-handle, the residential areas of Port Louis have suffered with regard to property investment, maintenance and development of cultural sites and buildings, and any sensible planning or vision for the municipality.
Suggestions:
The Municipality of Port Louis in collaboration with the Government's development plans around Port Louis, mainly ebene, pailles, and now Riche Terre needs an Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). An Urban Redevelopment Authority would prepare long term strategic plans, as well as detailed local area plans, for physical development, and then co-ordinate and guide efforts to bring these plans to reality. Prudent land use planning has enabled small areas such as Singapore to enjoy strong economic growth and social cohesion. The Authority would need to take into consideration not just the current needs of the city, such as fixing a creaking infrastructure, road congestion, lack of investment, but more crucially a vision which will provide sufficient land for economic growth and future development in the long term. It would be tasked with the mission of making PL a great city to live, work, and play and paternering with the community to create a vibrant, sustainable and cosmopolitan city of distinction.
An Urban Redevelopment Authority would not only be involved in creating a vision for the city, it would also serve as an integrated institution controlling the sale of sites, conservation, development, control and co-ordination, transportation development, and creating and maintaining a vibrant residential and commercial property market.
A Concept Plan
Port Louis needs a broad, strategic, intensive, long term land use and transportation plan for the next ten years (which could be updated every 10 years or so) to guide Port Louis' physical development (re-development at first). First and foremost the development plan would need to focus on maintaining the city's status as the commercial hub and institutional hub of the nation, for instance updating the creaking infrastructure and developing a Mass Rapid Transit System - which is absolutely necessary, connecting the M1 corridor. Secondly, the concept plan would also need to map out a vision for Port Louis in the next 20 to 30 years based on a population scenario, there is ample room for mid-rise luxury apartment growth and further commercial property growth in the downtown core (des froise street area / caudan). The concept plan should be put together without delay after public consultation through focus groups, internet or sms feedback, public dialogues, and exhibitions. From a city of 147,00 in an area of 16 sq. mi. the population can easily increase to 250,000 with sensible planning in the next 10 years.
The vision should set out to develop Port Louis into a thriving world-class city in the 21st century and as the gateway to Africa.
Key suggestions:
- Introducing more mid-rise city living,
Using the limited space more efficiently whilst protecting the beauty of the mountains and views of the ocean for all. Architecturally eco-friendly and sensible, protecting the treasure of Mauritius it's environment, both from scenic and development point of view.
- Providing more new homes in familiar places
Whilst keeping in tune with some of the architectural marvels of Port Louis' history, colonial Mauritian style houses and gardens, rejuvenating classical Mauritian architecture whilst integrating modern materials, designs, and layouts.
- Offering more choices for recreation
More parks, and green space, especially smaller green spaces like in London, greening some of the squares and plazas perhaps, creating a modern shopping district / cultural district - something akin to Soho in New York, cafes, shops, art galleries, theaters. A great city ideally has two shopping / cultural areas, one where it's classical yet modern - Newburry street - Quincy Market in Boston, Soho in New York, Bond Street in London; and another area such as Times Square or Leicester Square. I would prefer the classical, since Caudan and other mall developments already exist and could evolve into something noisier.
- Allowing greater flexibility for businesses
Creating intelligent modern buildings, which are architecturally innovative and stimulating. Using building codes, setting benchmarks, involving the business community in integration of facilities and services.
- Establishing a global business centre
I feel we can have two, certainly Ebene is rivaling PL in this regard, however I feel the old business can still be in PL - merchant banks, insurance, financial services, corporate HQs, law firms, and the new economy can be in Ebene, BPO companies, Tech sector, Venture capitalists, Bio-Tech, start ups, etc. This would fit into the "clustering" concept which is often referred to.
- Building an extensive rail network
We used to have one, actually Mark Twain wrote his famous line while traveling on it, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius." If we are going to increase our population of our space challenged island we will need to build one or walk. Little did we know that the same rail tracks Mark Twain was traveling on could be our only option of sustaining his famous quote. For PL an undergournd system connected to the M1 corridor would be preferable to save space.
- Developing a Marina bay - luxury mid/high rise residential area (An IBS)
Through expanding the Caudan waterfront or creating a new district with luxury mid-rise developments catering to both foreigners and Mauritians looking for high-end living, leisure attractions, greenery, town homes, hotels, views of the port, and waterfront. An Integrated Business Scheme, a mixed high density commercial and residential development area, bringing together different designs, concepts, ideas; connecting and enhancing the core of the city.
- Focusing on identity and preserving our land (especially our beaches) and environment.
The benefits of planned developments have yet to be realized yet many countries and cities including Mauritius (IRS) continue to undertake them presumably because they can rapidly change the landscape. Yet the lon
g term ramifications of such planned cities or developments compared to organic growth couldn't be more antinoymic. Port Louis needs to enhance, cherish, and preserve it's identity - modern development needs to be woven into the existing fabric of the city and it's residents. We must also preserve public spaces such as access to our beaches, waterfront, mountain tracks, and the most scenic areas should be accessible/democratized (build promenades, make the waterfront area a slim waterline park).Crucially, the URA must maintain global best practices. A city and public which is aware of design quality and the demand for good design in the built environment would create a new niche for Mauritius by encouraging a more vibrant professional design community which could expand in the region and the country as infrastructure and investment picks up. The URA would need to work hard to enhance the standing and profile of PL's built environment which currently is very poor.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Inaction choking ICT growth in Mauritius | Singapore's vision
Singapore's drive to provide the resources necessary to compete in 2015.
Vision for Singapore: An Intelligent Nation, A Global City, Powered By Infocomm
Singapore’s Goals with iN2015
* to be #1 in the world in harnessing infocomm to add value to the economy and society
* to realise a 2 – fold increase in the value-add of the infocomm industry to S$26 billion
* to realise a 3 – fold increase in infocomm export revenue to S$60 billion
and
* to create 80,000 additional jobs
* to achieve 90% home broadband usage
* to achieve 100% computer ownership in homes with school-going children
Back to Mauritius.......The APC's Case Study on Mauritius' Access to internet bandwidth by Russell Southwood.
Reports on and about how Singapore plans to achieve its in2015.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Mauritius 54th in Network Readiness Index
This is far below Tunisia at 35. NRI primarily measures three areas Environment [political regulatory infrastructure], Readiness to use, and Usage. Mauritius shows extreme weakness in the areas of infrastructure, readiness, and usage.* In the past 4 years our ranking has been deteriorating from 43 to 54!
Full view
A preliminary look at the rankings suggests the only reason Mauritius is 54th is because of environmental factors, eg. taxes, easy to start up a business, really nothing to do with improving the core of being a networked economy. Looking deeper into the numbers especially the second illustration reveals this.
Mauritius v. Tunisia
*These numbers are from 2006 not sure exactly when, still rather alarming nonetheless!
Analysis
Full view
A preliminary look at the rankings suggests the only reason Mauritius is 54th is because of environmental factors, eg. taxes, easy to start up a business, really nothing to do with improving the core of being a networked economy. Looking deeper into the numbers especially the second illustration reveals this.
Mauritius v. Tunisia
*These numbers are from 2006 not sure exactly when, still rather alarming nonetheless!
Analysis
Thursday, April 3, 2008
SSR Airport : Potential for becoming a Regional Aviation hub | Necessity of an Upgrade
Please Upgrade:
SSR is totally incapable of handling the current commercial aviation needs of Mauritius. It's outrageous that at a luxury destination such as Mauritius tourists have to suffer through SSR. The wait to just enter the departure hall on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday is absurd. Travelers complain of having enjoyed a great holiday in Mauritius except for the bitter taste of going through SSR on their way out. During peak hours travelers will find themselves waiting outside on the road or even at times in the parking lot unprotected from the elements (sweaty, hot, frustrated, angry, tired, dehydrated, so much for the r&r holiday). Furthermore, many people who have visited Mauritius recently have complained to me that even arriving at the airport 3 hours in advance is not sufficient to make your flight. And the next flight leaving from Mauritius to wherever a traveler is going to from Mauritius...........won't be anytime soon. Several major gripes: getting to the airport is still difficult (infrastructure issue), please open up the skies Air Mauritius sucks, better flight departure management - stop trying to have 3 B747's departing at exactly the same time the airport can't handle it! After suffering through check in there's no where to eat or shop, unless you consider the egregiously overpriced, crap tasting, little kiosks outside the baggage hall as a place to eat and the rather meek, only one shop duty free, selling nothing useful as being sufficient.
Improving existing services: The Hotels seeing that this is getting out of control are starting to allow passengers to check in from the Hotel - excellent idea but in the long term not sustainable and patchy, in addition to security issues. The airlines should offer online check in - since we are a cyber island... [we should've been pioneering the new check in by mobile phone - Dallas has been running trials for several months] The major bottleneck appears to be going through security (which isn't very rigorous especially to anyone going through Heathrow or any US airport), there were only two baggage scanners - get more please. The inbound service through the airport was pretty well thought out and smooth. Increase food and shopping options for travelers. As well as free wifi (cyber island?) wouldn't be too much to ask would it? The most important is the psychological shock that people get - having to wait outside, seeing the really long lines, heat, frustration, this needs to be sorted out first and foremost - people can live with the rest.
Regional Hub | Gateway to Africa
Since Mauritius aspires to be a hub and the Singapore of Africa, it needs an Airport which fits those aspirations. Major hubs around the world which come to mind are Heathrow (disaster), Atlanta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, KL, Singapore, Dubai, Frankfurt. Not only should Mauritius try to become a hub for passengers but it should also try to link up as a Cargo hub as well. Something innovative like possibly creating a port next to the air port specifically to connect the air/sea cargo. [I think Dubai has something like this going on or doing something along these lines].
Air demand has steadily been increasing across the African region, yet connections are poor, and the service to those areas are even worse. Africa is ripe for a low-cost pure regional or business traveler based airline to serve it; especially sub - Saharan Africa - but their's no hub to make this business model work (wink wink Air Mauritius). The airport doesn't need to be a grand concept like Dubai or Beijing it needs to be functional, modern, and attractive.
The main elements to a hub airport are connections, thus options for the traveler and options for the airlines to provide services. Travelers find opportunities for cheaper flights, stop overs in Mauritius, and moreover convenience and choice. Airlines get to provide their customers with better options and see Mauritius as an outlet to the whole of Africa rather than a single destination = $. Two things at the moment BA, Swiss/Lufthansa, and KLM/Air France dominate the African markets - usually if you're flying from Europe and you need to get to a destination like say Yaounde Swiss is your only option, I've flown all of them KLM is decent, don't ask about the others I might puke. When airlines look at flying to Mauritius or a traveler for that matter all they really see is one market, Mauritius - Country X, the airlines can't create agreements with other airlines, nor can the passenger find their own connections. Whereas when an airline looks at Heathrow, easyjet looks at Heathrow and sees over a 100 connections, and so does the easyjet passenger from Seville. An airline like Air Mauritius sees Frankfurt as a gateway to cover several countries in Europe, from Bruxelles up to Copenhagen.
Furthermore this fits in with all the other concepts Mauritius is trying to work on: becoming a business and financial hub for Africa - well you need people to be able to get here and get to Africa easily. Secondly this will solidify and increase the tourism base for Mauritius. Singapore's Changi international airport contributes 8% to Singapore's GDP and 7% to employment!
You really need to set yourself apart on things like, services at the airport, facilities, design, ease of use, shopping, hospitality, it must be a world class airport. Translate the outstanding hotel expertise to the airport.
Luxury Hub:
Mauritius is an ultimate luxury destination. A possible concept which should be considered is a luxury terminal to cater to making the luxury experience all that more luxurious as well as attracting more of the luxury business in Africa. The terminal shouldn't just have special lounges, individual nap rooms, a business center, a gym and a spa [this should be in the normal terminal as well] but should cater to the regional African luxury experience. For instance, the Safari - Mauritius packages which have become popular. In addition this could be a hub to airlines or services that want to offer private jet services in Africa or yacht services say to their new IRS villa. An airport business conference center for use on the way to Africa, meet your bankers, legal team (mu being a hub with all these services); Execs of a multinational flying in from around world meeting in SSR on the way to an African city. [presentation facilities, meeting rooms, private jet services, conference?] This would be a serious cash cow if it works.
Low Cost Hub
A few hub airports have been going with this concept. Not sure this would really work although Singapore has opened one and it's not your atypical Bali -esque tourist destination. Most of the airlines who do cheap packages to Africa fly their own chartered planes to specific airports. Plus the African market isn't big enough at the moment. Mauritius only really caters to upmarket tourists and rightly so.
Financing:
The newspapers state that the EU has been interested for sometime in providing funding to create a new airport. AML could also make use of the capital markets options, since the Hotels are doing so well, I don't see how an offering be it debt or equity would lack interest. Around $300m should be enough. Most important though: Air Mauritius - no favors, the only way you'll get better is through competition, and don't complain you have the resources. Air Services Agreements. we do a great job on Tax treaties why not extend that to aviation, SADC, AU, EU, ASEAN should all be worked out. Pro-business initiatives: an Airline fund or rebates, or tax exemptions, marketing assistance, IT assistance, BPO assistance, etc (we are a cyber island after all).
Africa opens to the World in 2010:
This is the ideal opportunity and time for Mauritius to be opening up a hub. Last time I checked, I was trying to go through SA to get to an African destination as well through SA to Mauritius. There were very few options from Europe or Asia to get to SA. The World Cup would be the perfect opportunity. Not least the fact that when Mbeki was in mu a few weeks ago for independence day said he would recommend Mauritius as a destination for teams preparing for the World Cup. Fans could enjoy watching their teams practice, enjoy sometime on the beach, and a new hub airport provides them with easy convenient options to their destination.
SSR is totally incapable of handling the current commercial aviation needs of Mauritius. It's outrageous that at a luxury destination such as Mauritius tourists have to suffer through SSR. The wait to just enter the departure hall on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday is absurd. Travelers complain of having enjoyed a great holiday in Mauritius except for the bitter taste of going through SSR on their way out. During peak hours travelers will find themselves waiting outside on the road or even at times in the parking lot unprotected from the elements (sweaty, hot, frustrated, angry, tired, dehydrated, so much for the r&r holiday). Furthermore, many people who have visited Mauritius recently have complained to me that even arriving at the airport 3 hours in advance is not sufficient to make your flight. And the next flight leaving from Mauritius to wherever a traveler is going to from Mauritius...........won't be anytime soon. Several major gripes: getting to the airport is still difficult (infrastructure issue), please open up the skies Air Mauritius sucks, better flight departure management - stop trying to have 3 B747's departing at exactly the same time the airport can't handle it! After suffering through check in there's no where to eat or shop, unless you consider the egregiously overpriced, crap tasting, little kiosks outside the baggage hall as a place to eat and the rather meek, only one shop duty free, selling nothing useful as being sufficient.
Improving existing services: The Hotels seeing that this is getting out of control are starting to allow passengers to check in from the Hotel - excellent idea but in the long term not sustainable and patchy, in addition to security issues. The airlines should offer online check in - since we are a cyber island... [we should've been pioneering the new check in by mobile phone - Dallas has been running trials for several months] The major bottleneck appears to be going through security (which isn't very rigorous especially to anyone going through Heathrow or any US airport), there were only two baggage scanners - get more please. The inbound service through the airport was pretty well thought out and smooth. Increase food and shopping options for travelers. As well as free wifi (cyber island?) wouldn't be too much to ask would it? The most important is the psychological shock that people get - having to wait outside, seeing the really long lines, heat, frustration, this needs to be sorted out first and foremost - people can live with the rest.
Regional Hub | Gateway to Africa
Since Mauritius aspires to be a hub and the Singapore of Africa, it needs an Airport which fits those aspirations. Major hubs around the world which come to mind are Heathrow (disaster), Atlanta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, KL, Singapore, Dubai, Frankfurt. Not only should Mauritius try to become a hub for passengers but it should also try to link up as a Cargo hub as well. Something innovative like possibly creating a port next to the air port specifically to connect the air/sea cargo. [I think Dubai has something like this going on or doing something along these lines].
Air demand has steadily been increasing across the African region, yet connections are poor, and the service to those areas are even worse. Africa is ripe for a low-cost pure regional or business traveler based airline to serve it; especially sub - Saharan Africa - but their's no hub to make this business model work (wink wink Air Mauritius). The airport doesn't need to be a grand concept like Dubai or Beijing it needs to be functional, modern, and attractive.
The main elements to a hub airport are connections, thus options for the traveler and options for the airlines to provide services. Travelers find opportunities for cheaper flights, stop overs in Mauritius, and moreover convenience and choice. Airlines get to provide their customers with better options and see Mauritius as an outlet to the whole of Africa rather than a single destination = $. Two things at the moment BA, Swiss/Lufthansa, and KLM/Air France dominate the African markets - usually if you're flying from Europe and you need to get to a destination like say Yaounde Swiss is your only option, I've flown all of them KLM is decent, don't ask about the others I might puke. When airlines look at flying to Mauritius or a traveler for that matter all they really see is one market, Mauritius - Country X, the airlines can't create agreements with other airlines, nor can the passenger find their own connections. Whereas when an airline looks at Heathrow, easyjet looks at Heathrow and sees over a 100 connections, and so does the easyjet passenger from Seville. An airline like Air Mauritius sees Frankfurt as a gateway to cover several countries in Europe, from Bruxelles up to Copenhagen.
Furthermore this fits in with all the other concepts Mauritius is trying to work on: becoming a business and financial hub for Africa - well you need people to be able to get here and get to Africa easily. Secondly this will solidify and increase the tourism base for Mauritius. Singapore's Changi international airport contributes 8% to Singapore's GDP and 7% to employment!You really need to set yourself apart on things like, services at the airport, facilities, design, ease of use, shopping, hospitality, it must be a world class airport. Translate the outstanding hotel expertise to the airport.
Luxury Hub:
Mauritius is an ultimate luxury destination. A possible concept which should be considered is a luxury terminal to cater to making the luxury experience all that more luxurious as well as attracting more of the luxury business in Africa. The terminal shouldn't just have special lounges, individual nap rooms, a business center, a gym and a spa [this should be in the normal terminal as well] but should cater to the regional African luxury experience. For instance, the Safari - Mauritius packages which have become popular. In addition this could be a hub to airlines or services that want to offer private jet services in Africa or yacht services say to their new IRS villa. An airport business conference center for use on the way to Africa, meet your bankers, legal team (mu being a hub with all these services); Execs of a multinational flying in from around world meeting in SSR on the way to an African city. [presentation facilities, meeting rooms, private jet services, conference?] This would be a serious cash cow if it works.
Low Cost Hub
A few hub airports have been going with this concept. Not sure this would really work although Singapore has opened one and it's not your atypical Bali -esque tourist destination. Most of the airlines who do cheap packages to Africa fly their own chartered planes to specific airports. Plus the African market isn't big enough at the moment. Mauritius only really caters to upmarket tourists and rightly so.
Financing:
The newspapers state that the EU has been interested for sometime in providing funding to create a new airport. AML could also make use of the capital markets options, since the Hotels are doing so well, I don't see how an offering be it debt or equity would lack interest. Around $300m should be enough. Most important though: Air Mauritius - no favors, the only way you'll get better is through competition, and don't complain you have the resources. Air Services Agreements. we do a great job on Tax treaties why not extend that to aviation, SADC, AU, EU, ASEAN should all be worked out. Pro-business initiatives: an Airline fund or rebates, or tax exemptions, marketing assistance, IT assistance, BPO assistance, etc (we are a cyber island after all).Africa opens to the World in 2010:
This is the ideal opportunity and time for Mauritius to be opening up a hub. Last time I checked, I was trying to go through SA to get to an African destination as well through SA to Mauritius. There were very few options from Europe or Asia to get to SA. The World Cup would be the perfect opportunity. Not least the fact that when Mbeki was in mu a few weeks ago for independence day said he would recommend Mauritius as a destination for teams preparing for the World Cup. Fans could enjoy watching their teams practice, enjoy sometime on the beach, and a new hub airport provides them with easy convenient options to their destination.
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