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
Saturday, April 5, 2008
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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