Vistara, India’s finest full-service carrier and a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, will commence five weekly flights to Mauritius effective 26 March 2023. Vistara will be using the recently inducted A321LR NEO, which offers 12 Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 152 Economy seats. The announcement was made on Wednesday 8 February 2023 by Hon. Louis Steven Obeegadoo, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning and Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Mauritius at a Gala Dinner hosted by the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority in Delhi.
“I am delighted to have had the privilege to announce the start of operations of five weekly Vistara flights from 26 March 2023 to the travel trade in India yesterday evening, ahead of the official announcement today,” says DPM Obeegadoo.
“Vistara’s flights will complement those of Air Mauritius to and from India. And provide the much-needed capacity on the route as we grow exchanges between India and Mauritius, including tourism, to a next level.”
The Gala Dinner was organised in collaboration with SATTE Delhi 2023 (South Asia’s Travel & Tourism Exchange), South Asia’s leading tourism fair and was graced by the presence of Vistara senior management, including the CEO, Mr Vinod Kannan and the travel trade. A delegation of some 30 Mauritian industry professionals as well as heads of travel trade associations, luminaries from the travel industry and top tour operators were also in attendance.
“We are delighted to announce the addition of Mauritius, the scenic island country, to our constantly expanding global network. Besides being a popular tourist destination, the Republic of Mauritius is an important business hub and home to many global financial institutions,” says Mr Kannan.
“Given the strong cultural ties, trade and bilateral relations between India and Mauritius, this new route will further aid the growing traffic between the two countries. We are confident that travellers will appreciate our world-class product and thoughtful services on this route along with convenient, direct access to and from the island nation.”
Air connectivity is a key component of tourism and DPM Obeegadoo stoutly spoke about his firm belief that tourist arrivals from India will cross the 100,000 mark in the coming years. He also highlighted the continuous efforts of Air Mauritius, with plans to operate 2 weekly flights to Delhi from May 2023, in addition to the current 6 weekly flights to Mumbai.
Furthermore, DPM Obeegadoo emphasised that the presence of India and Mauritius on the UNWTO Executive Council will be instrumental in charting a new course for world tourism around key pillars like sustainability, resilience and inclusiveness. He also expressed his gratitude for this fruitful collaboration.
The Mauritian delegation will be present at the 29th edition of SATTE at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, Delhi-NCR from Thursday 9 to Saturday 11 February 2023. The event is recognised as Asia’s leading travel and tourism exhibition to conduct business, share knowledge, exchange ideas in order to arrive at solution-driven innovations to accelerate the pace of the growth of the industry.
