Mauritius marketing agency to enhance fams and online resources

A new marketing initiative designed to boost sales to Mauritius will deliver upgraded online trade resources and an increased number of fam trips to the island.

PR and representation company Kamageo was appointed Destination Marketing Agency for the region in July in a bid to promote the Indian Ocean island in the UK.

Speaking to Aspire about its plans to engage the trade over the next 12 months, chief executive Tim Henshall promised to work with Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) to bolster trade tools, adding: “We have to get this right.”

“What’s very clear to us is we need to get people to experience far more of what the island is about,” he said.

“We will be doing two kinds of fam trips. There will be fam trips for those tour operators who already know Mauritius and, more importantly, [for those] within the travel industry who really don’t know just how good [it] is and exactly what is on offer.”

Henshall couldn’t say how many travel agents and tour operators the destination planned to host over the next year but insisted he would do everything he could to get the “right people” to the island.

“We have a number in mind right now but if we feel that there are those who we really need to get out there, we’ll get them out there. By hook or by crook we’ll add to that number,” he said.

“If we’ve said we’re going to take 40 and we need 100, we’ll take 100 because we have to get this right.”

In addition, Henshall said Kamageo was looking to develop a resources website that will provide “significant levels” of training for agents.

He labelled the existing MTPA online training platform “very good” but said it was in need of “a major refresh”.

A “significant” consumer campaign for the destination was also said to be launching “any minute now”, with a particular focus on digital.

To support growth, three of Kamageo’s 15-strong team will now work directly on the Mauritius account, including a dedicated trade manager, PR manager and country manager.

At an event outlining the destination’s marketing and PR strategy, Kamageo said it was targeting weddings and honeymoons; DINKERs (Dual Income No Kids Yet, Early Retirement); and families to show there’s more to the island than beautiful beaches.

Henshall cited the island’s ocean wildlife, mountainous landscape, emerging golf scene and array of festivals and cultural events as other reasons to visit the destination.

“What was very noticeable [from research] is just how little differentiation there is in the eyes of the consumer and the UK tourist amongst those Indian Ocean islands. They just see them as very similar and interchangeable - and they’re clearly not,” he said.

“The mission I feel I’ve got is to help to educate everyone within the travel industry of just how different Indian Ocean islands are from one another and to ensure that Mauritius is recognised for being so diverse.

“After talking to lots of travel agents, that wasn’t what was being talked about. It was about the quality of the hotels, the beaches and the price - not about how many other things you can do.

“We feel that we need to get that out to the trade, we need them to buy [into] that passion again and highlight that we’re not just about one single feature.”