By Shruti Menon Seeboo
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) hosted the High-Level Launch of its landmark Tourism Report in Port Louis, Mauritius, entitled Toward Sustainable, Resilient, and High-Value Tourism: A Pathway to Private Sector–Led Job Creation and Shared Prosperity. Bringing together government leaders, tourism operators, financial institutions, investors, and development partners, the event served both as a platform for examining the report’s findings and as a rallying call for the systemic, collaborative action the sector now urgently requires.
The launch followed the World Bank Group’s Mauritius Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), released in February 2026, and formed part of a broader, coordinated effort to align Mauritius’ development ambitions with the realities of a changing climate and a rapidly evolving global tourism market.
A World-Class Sector Facing a New Set of Tests
Few sectors have shaped modern Mauritius as profoundly as tourism. Accounting for approximately 20 per cent of GDP, 14 per cent of employment, and generating gross earnings of around MUR 93.6 billion — equivalent to approximately US$2.1 billion — in 2024 alone, the sector is far more than an economic driver. It is a platform for broader diversification, unlocking demand across domestic agriculture, fisheries, cultural industries, construction, and transport, with multiplier effects that ripple across both urban and rural communities. With 1.4 million arrivals in 2025, Mauritius has reaffirmed its standing as one of the world’s most successful island destinations, buoyed by faster-than-peer recovery, stronger air connectivity, sustained global demand, and growing arrivals from India, Africa, and Asia.
Yet as IFC economist Mounir Bari made clear in presenting the report’s findings, the very architecture of this success is now a source of vulnerability. Tourism assets are heavily concentrated along the coastline. High-quality hotels are clustered around the coast, which has been central to Mauritius’ volume proposition — but it also means that a large share of the sector’s assets are directly exposed to coastal erosion, flooding, and sea-level rise. At the same time, protected areas remain limited, fragmented, and largely inland, at a time when coastal zones are the most exposed and the least protected.
“Mauritius has built a strong, competitive, and globally recognised tourism sector, one that is largely centred around high-end, coastal, beach-based tourism. But the very structure that made this model successful is also making it increasingly vulnerable, particularly to the climate crisis,” said Bari.
The economic case for action is reinforced by a set of concerning performance metrics. Average tourist spending in Mauritius stands at approximately $1,475 — below aspirational peers such as Seychelles, Barbados, and Fiji. The sector also generates more emissions per dollar of tourism revenue than comparable destinations. In 2023, travel and tourism accounted for 33.7 per cent of Mauritius’ total greenhouse gas emissions, with transportation emerging as the largest contributor to the sector’s carbon footprint.
The climate modelling results are equally sobering. Under a business-as-usual trajectory, tourism revenues could fall by between six and eleven per cent by 2050. International leisure demand — the backbone of the sector — is projected to decline by as much as 17 per cent in hotter scenarios, compared to between two and four per cent for domestic tourism. Coral reef-related tourism, valued at around 2.1 per cent of GDP, faces a projected decline of 36 to 58 per cent by mid-century. Sea levels around Mauritius are rising at roughly twice the global average, up to half of the country’s beaches could be lost by 2075, and more than 4,000 coastal buildings could be affected by shoreline retreat by 2050.
“These are not distant risks. They are signals that the window to act is narrowing, and delaying action will only increase the cost of transition,” stated Cláudia Conceição, IFC Regional Director for Southern Africa.
Water scarcity is emerging as a further acute challenge. Mauritius is already classified as water-stressed, rainfall is projected to decline, and droughts are becoming more frequent and severe. Tourism amplifies water demand — particularly in coastal hubs — whilst system inefficiencies further strain reliable supply. A survey of 41 accommodation providers conducted as part of the research found that cyclones and freshwater scarcity are perceived as the most severe and immediate operational constraints, with around two-thirds of operators reporting significant impacts. Beach erosion is a growing concern in exposed coastal areas, and whilst coral bleaching and biodiversity loss are often perceived as less immediate, they remain critical to the destination’s long-term attractiveness.
The Triple Win: Value, Resilience, and Jobs
The report’s response to these pressures is not a counsel of despair but a call for transformation. At its core is a shift from volume to value — from maximising the number of arrivals to maximising what each visitor brings in earnings, length of stay, and benefits that reach Mauritian businesses, workers, and communities. IFC describes this as the “triple win”: enhancing competitiveness, building resilience, and creating better-quality jobs — including by equipping the tourism workforce with the green and sustainability skills that higher-end market segments increasingly demand.
“The future of tourism here in Mauritius should be built around value, not more volume. The objective is not simply to grow tourism, but to move towards a model that generates higher economic value, places less pressure on natural assets, and is more resilient to climate and external shocks,” notes Bari.
Crucially, there are already encouraging signs that the market is moving in this direction. Last year, tourism revenue grew faster than arrivals — a signal that the sector is beginning to generate greater value without relying solely on volume growth. The private sector is already responding: 64 per cent of surveyed operators have invested in solar or similar renewable energy systems, 36 per cent have implemented rainwater harvesting, and significant numbers have adopted coastal protection measures including coral rehabilitation (40 per cent), sandbags (36 per cent), and seawalls (24 per cent). Large hotel groups are playing a key enabling role in coordinating sustainability efforts across the industry.
However, progress remains uneven — particularly when it comes to ecosystem-based solutions and smaller operators. The barriers holding back faster and broader action are primarily structural and financial: high upfront costs, limited access to finance for smaller businesses, regulatory friction, skills gaps, and implementation delays. Addressing these will require creating the enabling environment and financing conditions to scale solutions across the entire industry — and this, Bari noted, is precisely where the investment opportunity lies.
The report identifies a wide range of concrete investment priorities: upgrading and green retrofitting of existing hotel stock; scaling renewable energy and utilities; investing in climate-resilient infrastructure; expanding inland and nature-based tourism; developing circular economy and green mobility solutions; and deploying digital tourism services. On the financing side, the report highlights green bonds, sustainability-linked instruments, blended finance structures, risk-sharing and guarantee mechanisms, and public-private partnership models as the key tools for mobilising capital at scale.
One standout opportunity highlighted in the report is seawater air conditioning (SWAC) technology — a solution that uses deep cold seawater to provide centralised cooling, reducing electricity and fuel consumption by up to 90 per cent. When combined with desalination, it can simultaneously address two of Mauritius’ most pressing constraints: pressure on the electricity system and freshwater scarcity. The technology is already operational in island destinations such as Bora Bora, and IFC’s infrastructure team is actively exploring a SWAC investment opportunity in Mauritius, with hotel groups and operators identified as potential off-takers.
“The transition is not only a resilience imperative. It is also a major investment opportunity for Mauritius,” Bari stated.
Drawing on international examples, Bari pointed to Singapore’s combination of grants, fiscal incentives, and green finance tools to reduce the cost of green investment; the Maldives’ embedding of sustainability requirements directly into resort licensing; and France’s use of energy performance targets alongside fiscal support for low-carbon operations. The lesson from each, he noted, is that incentives work best when they are well-coordinated, predictable, and aligned with long-term investment signals — and many of the instruments needed already exist in Mauritius in one form or another. The challenge now is to apply them more systematically.
The report sets out a prioritised set of recommendations to drive the transition. In the near term, these include formalising a moratorium on new beachfront hotel development to reduce pressure on coastal zones; promoting brownfield upgrades and inland product diversification, with a target of licensing 100 new inland and niche tourism operators by 2030; mandating increasingly stringent sustainability and climate resilience standards into business licensing; and establishing a Climate Resilient Tourism Task Force to coordinate implementation across agencies and address land use conflicts. Over the medium term, the report calls for Mauritius to achieve green destination certification by 2030 — piloting the model in Rodrigues — alongside investment in coastal rehabilitation, the development of robust data and GHG monitoring systems, and a comprehensive skills development programme to prepare the tourism workforce for the green transition.
A Shared Agenda — and an Urgent One
Conceição was unequivocal that the transition cannot be delivered by any single actor. It must be private sector-led, but it requires systemic, coordinated action spanning government, the private sector, financial institutions, infrastructure providers, and the broader value chain.
“Tourism is not just about hotels. It is an ecosystem spanning transport, energy, water, agriculture, fisheries, the blue economy, financial and digital services, and local communities. Scaling this transition will require coordinated action across all actors,” Conceição explained.
She reaffirmed IFC’s commitment to playing its part through advisory services, direct investment, and innovative financial instruments — including blue and green bonds, sustainability-linked finance, and blended finance structures — with the explicit aim of moving from pilot initiatives to scalable, bankable investments that mobilise private capital at the scale the transition demands. Drawing a parallel with Mauritius’ own history, she recalled how the country built a world-class tourism sector almost from scratch in the 1970s and 1980s, through bold public-private partnerships and clear long-term vision.
“Today, we stand at a similar inflection point. The decisions taken now will shape the tourism model Mauritius passes on to the next generation. The opportunity is clear, the pathway is emerging, and the urgency is real. IFC is proud to walk this path with you,” Conceição noted.
She extended her appreciation to AHRIM, Business Mauritius, the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the many operators who contributed their time, data, and perspectives — noting that the report is grounded in the insights of the industry itself.
A Minister Who Pulls No Punches
The keynote address was delivered by The Honourable Jean Sydney Pierre, Junior Minister of Tourism, who brought a distinctly candid and personal perspective to the gathering. Drawing on his background in the hospitality industry, he used the vivid analogy of switching from a plastic bottle to a biodegradable one — a small change that once made a measurable difference on a hotel’s balance sheet, and a metaphor, he suggested, for how the industry must now think about sustainability: not as a cost, but as an investment in long-term survival. The ocean waste patch in the Northern Hemisphere, he noted — large enough to cover seven times the size of France — is a consequence of precisely the kind of short-termism that Mauritius can no longer afford.
He was frank about the scale and immediacy of the challenge. “We are in a crisis,” he said plainly. “Probably we don’t realise it.” He challenged the audience to imagine waking up to find their beachfront hotel had no beach — not as a hypothetical, but as the logical end point of inaction. He also reflected on what might have been different had Mauritius invested seriously in coastal and reef protection 25 years ago and called for a decisive break from the short-termism that has too often governed the sector’s approach — what he described, simply, as being “penny wise, pound foolish”.
The Minister spoke candidly about the need for a different kind of conversation about tourism performance — one that moves beyond arrival numbers as the primary benchmark. Tourism’s direct contribution to GDP stands at around nine per cent but has the potential to reach 20 to 25 per cent with the right strategic direction. He challenged the media and industry alike to ask better questions: not whether arrivals were up or down by two per cent in a given month, but whether the sector is generating genuine, lasting value.
He also spoke to the rapidly evolving expectations of today’s traveller. Scandinavian markets, he noted, now look for a destination’s sustainability rating before selecting a hotel — a brochure alone no longer suffices. Travellers seek authentic, immersive, meaningful experiences, and Mauritius must respond to that shift. He called for the country to move decisively beyond the traditional “three Ss” model, embracing cultural tourism, wellness, gastronomy, ecotourism, heritage, sport, and community-based experiences — offerings that no neighbouring destination can replicate.
“You will never go to Maldives, you will come to Mauritius. While we compete on the white beach experience, they will beat us every time. But playing on all those other grounds, there is no comparison,” highlighted the Junior Minister.
He was equally direct about the need to move from workshops and reports to genuine, accountable action — with proper plans, clear deliverables, and follow-through. “Starting from government, we need to change. We need to have an agenda, an action plan with proper follow-up and deliverables. Otherwise, next year we’ll be sitting at the same table, probably with the same people, probably with the same report,” he said. Investment in human capital, he added, remains essential: the future success of Mauritian tourism will depend on the country’s ability to train, empower, and retain a skilled workforce capable of meeting evolving global standards.
The Hon. Junior Minister Pierre stated, “Sustainable tourism is not about limiting development. It is about developing smarter, better, and more responsibly. Mauritius has the potential to become a global benchmark for sustainable island tourism. But achieving this vision will require courage, collaboration, and long-term commitment from all stakeholders.”
He concluded by affirming that partnerships with organisations such as the IFC and the World Bank Group will remain indispensable as Mauritius works towards its Vision 2050 aspirations — helping to mobilise expertise, financing innovation, and international best practice in the years ahead.
Bari closed his presentation with a note of measured but genuine optimism. Mauritius already has strong foundations in place — sophisticated operators, mature financial markets, clear policy direction, a growing number of hotels adopting international sustainability certifications, and strategic projects such as the Rodrigues Green Airport advancing with World Bank support. The momentum is real. What is needed now, he said, is stronger alignment, faster implementation, and investment at scale.
Bari concluded saying, “Mauritius can lead a tourism transformation that delivers a triple win for people, planet, and prosperity. Climate change is eroding those assets faster than the current model can adapt — and this is precisely why this transition must now accelerate, not as a constraint on growth, but as a pathway to sustaining it over the long term.”
Sjamsu Rahardja, World Bank Group Resident Representative for Mauritius, concluded saying that there were three key points from the discussion: firstly, understanding the travellers’ journeys; secondly, tourism is not just one activity; and thirdly, value creation and the narrative. He emphasised that tourism is not merely a flow of arrivals; each traveller has their own expectations for the future and for their Mauritius experience. To illustrate this, he quoted Tolstoy, ‘Happy people look the same, but difficult people, sad people, have their own thinkings’, noting that understanding travellers’ journeys shapes what they expect from Mauritius.
He then set out the broader picture; tourism comprises a broad range of value chains and involves many stakeholders. He said, “It is not simply about a balance sheet; without collective action we cannot sustain the individual balance sheet, and a lack of coordination could ripple through the economy and other activities.”
On value creation and the narrative, he argued that for Mauritius, as a small island state, sustainability can gain traction when linked to regeneration, the creation of new experiences, and diversification as core pillars. He said, “We should move away from measuring success purely by volume and instead focus on value; as the Junior Minister said, this is a complex challenge, not an imminent crisis, but one that requires action now and cannot be siloed. Action must be collaborative; there is interdependence among actors, so incentives must be aligned across the private sector, financiers, and policymakers to ensure that financing makes sense.”
