Mauritius as a Sustainable Island Destination: Opportunities, Implications, and Challenges for Sport Tourism

Tourism is a vibrant business for many countries, and it has demonstrated its economic, socio-cultural, and environmental potential to many countries over the past decades. Island republics like Mauritius are successful examples of how to go from a monocrop economy to a well-known island resort with a diverse range of tourism activities. Mauritius is an idyllic destination classified as the 10th densely populated island with most of its tourists coming from European countries, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Reunion Island, South Africa, and India (Statistics Mauritius, International travel and tourism. [Online]. Available from: https://statsmauritius.govmu.org/Documents/Statistics/ESI/2021/EI1567/Tourism_Yr20.pdf . Accessed: 17 June 2022, 2020). Despite its economic benefits, tourism remains a sensitive and vulnerable industry that must not be overlooked. The idea and philosophy of sustainable tourism arose globally as a means to address and limit potential negative tourism impacts. Since 2015, the World Tourism Organization has defined sustainable tourism as “one whose practices and principles can be applicable to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various niche tourism segments.” Given the importance of tourism growth for Mauritius, sustainable innovation in this sector has increased the good sides of tourism while reducing the negative repercussions on the environment, society, and culture. The Tourism Authority in Mauritius and the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP) created the SUS-ISLAND initiative; a project to foster pro-handprint innovation (a concept to describe positive and value-adding impacts of products and services, e.g., for the local community to prosper, preserve culture and nature, and the awareness of clients, tourists, locals) and simultaneously many niche markets are being prioritized. Innovatively over time, the tourism products in Mauritius have extended to now include medical tourism, wellness and spa, MICE-weddings, shopping tourism, heritage and cultural tourism, and sports tourism (e.g., kite-surf, golf, cycling, and trail) as major ones. People that travel to participate in any form of physical sports activity or event, either as participants or spectators, in urban or non-urban regions, inside or outdoors, and in various weather conditions or seasons, are referred to as sports tourists. Multiple local stakeholders ranging from the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure, the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), and other registered associations, along with the private sector, have promoted leisure, recreational, and athletic activities. As land-based activities, we commonly find trails, golf, and horse riding, and water sports activities vary from water skiing, catamaran trips, stand-up paddles, kitesurfing, and deep sea fishing among many more. Mauritius has hosted several international sports events and competitions such as the Ferney Trail, the Surf-ski Week, Paradis Gold Challenge, the Ultra Trail Raid-light Beachcomber, the Indian Ocean Triathlon, and the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Golf tournament among others. Accordingly, this chapter sets out to thoroughly understand the relevance and contributions of sports tourism for the local economy and further provides insights into the evolutionary journey of sports tourism in Mauritius. Furthermore, the chapter investigates and delves into the arising economic, socio-cultural, and environmental opportunities and challenges arising from sports tourism based on the core sports tourism domain. Objectively a critical literature review was completed, whereby sports tourism as part of the Mauritian tourism product was the focal point. Accordingly, while adopting a secondary data analysis, local action plans, strategies, and research works addressing sports tourism evolutions and contributions for Mauritius were studied. Through empirical observations made, the chapter further reports and summarizes the specific characteristics of Sports Tourism in Mauritius as well as its related socio-economic and environmental contributions are highlighted. Additionally, the diversified sports tourism product is explained while addressing the evolutionary journey of sports tourism for Mauritius.