By:

This paper sets in context the potentials and challenges of cultural and heritage tourism in Mauritius. It identifies the major ‘heritage assets’ and explores how the local community and tourists ‘experience’ the country’s heritage. It attempts at understanding ‘Heritage-Locals-Tourists’ relationships and further sets the scene for Mauritius as a cultural heritage tourism destination. Boxill(2004)works in alternative tourism in the Caribbean were used as a starting point for this study. Core research areas were identified and a number of questionnaires were designed to build up a genuine database about the cultural heritage tourism in Mauritius. This study is based on the analysis of questionnaires and interviews with a range of heritage organisations, tourists and the local population. The findings indicate that most of the country’s heritage sites are unfamiliar to the majority of the local population. The study also reveals that Mauritius has the potential of developing and sustaining cultural heritage tourism but there are many shortcomings which need to be addressed. The paper limits itself to certain issues regarding sustainable heritage. Further research is needed to develop a more academic base of cultural heritage tourism in Mauritius. This study will need further assessments and cover wider samples for the various surveys for more meaningful observations. This paper contributes to new knowledge in the field of cultural heritage tourism in Mauritius. It may serve as a starting point for academics interested in this area. Furthermore, the results of this work are expected to be useful in guiding policy actions

Stream: Cultural Sustainability

Paper: Sustainable Heritage Development

He has particular interest in tourism, marketing, applied economics and econometric modelling. He completed his PhD at the School of Economics, University of Nottingham in 1998. He has worked on projects for UNCTAD and EU. He has lectured Econometrics (theory and applied), Research Methods, Tourism Business, Markets and Strategy, Marketing Strategies for Tourism and Travel at both the undergradate and postgraduate levels. Ramesh is undertaking research on tourism and travel, tourism taxation, price sensitivity of tourism and the impact of the tourism sector on the economies of the United Kingdom, Balearic and Canary Islands and Malta. He is also specializing on the econometric modelling of tourism demand, both inbound and outbound, using single equation and system of equations models within static and dynamic contexts.

Raj Chintaram holds an MSc in Public Sector Management and is a full time research student at UTM. He is also a member of numerous local and international NGOs and avery much engaged in the civil society. Raj has long been associated with poverty alleviation , environmental and ecological programmes and this motivates his inclination towards issues related to sustainable development.