Cultural Tourism in Mauritius
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1. Cultural Tourism in Mauritius
Tourism comprises of activities of persons travelling and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than 1 consecutive year, for leisure business and other purposes (WTO, 1991). Mauritius is one of the islands which make up the Mascareignes Islands group. Tourism is a major factor in keeping the economy of this country as high as it is. Before people started visiting this beautiful part of the world they solely relied on agricultural businesses.
Tourism industry has developed into a major pillar in the economy of Mauritius. Although, the sun, sea and sand known as the 3S is still considered as the major drives of the tourism industry, there are many other resources such as culture and heritage that are widely used to promote Mauritius as a tourist destination. Mauritius is a multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society, thus according to Raj Chintaram (2007), Mauritius is viewed as a ‘Cultural Carrefour’ which over the years, the local population has been acclaimed for their unflinching hospitality. Adding another ‘intangible’ dimension to the tourism industry, there are many places of great cultural and heritage value in Mauritius but many of these have been underestimated even by the local population as well as visitors.
By adapting the main concepts from Timothy and Boyd (2003) and after taking into consideration the particularities of the island, cultural and heritage sites in Mauritius can be classified and grouped as under: Museum, Religious & Cultural Sites, Historic buildings & Monuments of Important Past Events, Heritage Architecture (Creole, Colonial type), Other Buildings, Archaeological Importance that we will view in more details in our literature research
2. History of sugar factories in Mauritius
Sugar cane was first brought to Mauritius by the Dutch mainly to produce an alcoholic drink named arrack. Mahé de La Bourdonnais was the first to initiate
1. Cultural Tourism in Mauritius
Tourism comprises of activities of persons travelling and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than 1 consecutive year, for leisure business and other purposes (WTO, 1991). Mauritius is one of the islands which make up the Mascareignes Islands group. Tourism is a major factor in keeping the economy of this country as high as it is. Before people started visiting this beautiful part of the world they solely relied on agricultural businesses.
Tourism industry has developed into a major pillar in the economy of Mauritius. Although, the sun, sea and sand known as the 3S is still considered as the major drives of the tourism industry, there are many other resources such as culture and heritage that are widely used to promote Mauritius as a tourist destination. Mauritius is a multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society, thus according to Raj Chintaram (2007), Mauritius is viewed as a ‘Cultural Carrefour’ which over the years, the local population has been acclaimed for their unflinching hospitality. Adding another ‘intangible’ dimension to the tourism industry, there are many places of great cultural and heritage value in Mauritius but many of these have been underestimated even by the local population as well as visitors.
By adapting the main concepts from Timothy and Boyd (2003) and after taking into consideration the particularities of the island, cultural and heritage sites in Mauritius can be classified and grouped as under: Museum, Religious & Cultural Sites, Historic buildings & Monuments of Important Past Events, Heritage Architecture (Creole, Colonial type), Other Buildings, Archaeological Importance that we will view in more details in our literature research
2. History of sugar factories in Mauritius
Sugar cane was first brought to Mauritius by the Dutch mainly to produce an alcoholic drink named arrack. Mahé de La Bourdonnais was the first to initiate