Travel Management Port Folio

BSc (HONS) TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

MODULE: Travel Management MODULE CODE: TMGT 2202 B Lecturer : Mrs NV Seebaluck Student ID : 102122 Josian Troubat BTHM10B/PT

Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................ 2 Mauritius as Tourism destination ....................................................................... 3 Crimes in Tourism Destination ............................................................................ 3 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 5 References & Bibliography .................................................................................. 6

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Introduction
On the 10th January 2011, Mrs Michaela Harte body was found dead by his husband in their room at the LUX Grand Gaube ex - Legends Hotel & Spa in Mauritius. This event has caused a havoc in the country, several articles and news broadcasted on Television, local newspaper namely l`Express, Le Mauricien and le Dfi Media Group (January 2011). Mrs Harte was on her honeymoon trip in Mauritius when she was murdered. A police enquiry and trial was held during the year 2011, where five employees working for the Legends Hotel were arrested and two of them were finally brought to trial to the Juries Tribunal in May 2011. A verdict of acquittal was pronounced by the juries against the two employees that were formally accused of murder; namely Avinash Treeboohun & Sandip Moonea. This acquittal and unresolved murder would have an impact on the Tourism Sector in Mauritius. Mrs Harte murder had certainly caused an immediate impact on Travel and Tourism industry Government of Mauritius has taken additional measures and has adopted strategies to minimise the damages caused to the global tourism image of Mauritius. The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam (The Journal.ie, July 2012) reassure the Irish people that no stone will be left unturned to solve this case and had even invited the Police Service of Northern Ireland to help in the investigations. During the past six months from the time of the murder and the acquittal sentence, many articles were made by local and international press, television, and on internet. Most of the articles described the murder of a 27th year old Ireland spouse murdered in a luxury 4 Star Hotel in Mauritius, as sensational news by referring to the murder in Mauritius. In view of these articles, press release, Mauritius who recon to be a peaceful and secured destination, has been blamed to be a black dot for the Irish people, as referred to an article in the Daily Mail reporter on the 12th January 2011. It is also important to point out that on one of the most famous social network Facebook page (Facebook, March 2013), where millions of people around are subscribed; a special page was created to boycott Mauritius as a Tourist destination. The case of Mrs. Harte being killed in her hotel room at the LUX Grand Gaube, for a couple of dollars, when being on honey moon, is one which may be said to be unforgiveable. Mauritius is a famous worldwide known destination for weddings and honeymooners. This crime is detrimental for its tourism industry. This news was broadcasted a few hours only after the crime had been committed, on several channels under the Breaking News titles and had it Murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavy (Harte) was strangled over a purse containing a small amount of cash. This was broadcasted around the world this had a negative impact on Mauritius. The words of the husband inspire more sadness saying She was my life (The Guardian, July 2012). The media was very quick at propagating the bad news and bad press and such publicity is not what a tourism destination wants. This act is in fact one of the greatest threat to the Mauritian's tourism industry. Josian Troubat - 102122 BTHM10B/PT

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Mauritius as Tourism destination

Mauritius is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It is normally referred to as the rainbow nation. Travellers and visitors consider the island, set in its turquoise sea, as an oasis of peace and tranquillity in the Indian Ocean. Tourism is a major pillar of the Mauritian economy. Since 1970s, it has contributed enormously to cause economic growth and development in Mauritius. Tourist arrivals have been constantly increasing over the past years and the country is expecting to welcome about two million foreign visitors annually by 2015 (Ali Jafar, World Bank:2011 ), Tourism causes changes in almost all spheres- economic, social, cultural, political or environmental- of the host community.

Crimes in Tourism Destination

Ntuli (1998) described crime as a universal social phenomenon in that it threatens the safety and security of the people, property, their sense of well-being, as well as social order. Tourists who were anticipating of getting married in Mauritius have surely cancelled their reservations as soon information about this misfortune spread around the whole world and this is witnessed in Ntuli (2000) who found that nowadays, crimes committed against tourist is becoming more and more detrimental to the tourism industry of a destination. Tourist Arrival in 2011- 2012 from United Kingdom including Ireland Country United Kingdom Other European Table 1.0 2011 88,182 30,620 2012 87,648 29,340

0.6% 4.2%

Source: Central Statistics Office Mauritius (INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL & TOURISM Year 2012) With regard to the figures on table 1.0, there had been a decreased in tourist arrival from the United Kingdom, but there are not enough evidence that can stipulate that tourist from the United Kingdom and Ireland did boycott Mauritius destination, the other element to be considered is also the global economic crisis. As mentioned earlier, and supported by Giddens (1990) who stated that crimes committed to travellers has an impact on many categories of people, because a negative perception of tourists at a destination is often reported in the media or even tourist themselves to friends and families and this causes a negative word of mouth being spread as it is actually the case for the death of Mrs Harte. The host country will thus be badly marketed and tourist arrivals will decline as supported by Ntuli (2000). According to Cooper et al. (2005), it is difficult to establish a link between tourism and crime. Reference has been made to other authors who suggest that crime increases relative to the increase in population density, but whether crime can be associated with tourist activity is extremely difficult to establish. Josian Troubat - 102122 BTHM10B/PT Page 3

Schiebler, Crotts and Hollinger (1996) make mention of the fact that foreign embassies routinely furnish residents intending to travel abroad with safety advisories and warnings. Most developing countries are considered inherently more dangerous than developed nations. As per this references Mauritius as developing country have not been yet considered as a travel and destination which is dangerous. In its advice to citizens, the UKs Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2012) makes direct reference to the murder. Mauritius is a country with low levels of crime and instances such as this are very uncommon. But as when travelling anywhere you should remain vigilant and exercise caution. Interestingly, there is no such reference to Mrs. Hartes death in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs online advice (2013) to those travelling to the island. When looking closely at the Doxeys (1976) Irridex model suggests that communities pass through a sequence of reactions as the impacts of an evolving tourism industry in their area become more pronounced and their perceptions change with experience. Thus, an initial euphoria is succeeded by apathy, annoyance and eventually, antagonism. This model is the host approach towards visitors. DOXEY`S IRRIDEX MODEL (1976) Development stages of Mauritius destination using Doxey`s Irridex Model Stages Social Interaction and relationship Mauritius destination Euphoria Visitors are welcome and there is 1960-70-After the sugar boom, with the little planning launching of National Carrier-Air Mauritius for air access Apathy Visitors are taken for granted and 1970-1990Booming of Tourism industry contact becomes more formal emerged as a 3rd Pillar of economy, private investment on hotels are allowed to achieve economic growth Annoyance Saturation is approached and the 1990 2010 Tourism sector began local people have misgivings. diversification implementation of IRS, ERS, Planners attempt to control via Eco tourism, Business etc. Tourism grows increasing infrastructure rather from 240,000 to nearly 750,000. than limiting growth Employment rate in Tourism sector expand. Tourism development came all across the best beach of the island creating annoyance among host population Antagonism Open expression of irritation and 2010-2013 Due to economic turndown, planning is remedial yet promotion the tourism sector stagnate even is increased to offset deteriorating promotion campaigns are done. Tourism reputation of the resort employment becomes a redundant. Host community attitudes changes towards the tourist, where robbery, violence and murder against tourist. Source: Keyser 2002

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Whenever crimes on tourism happened in a hotel, we may believe that the destination may have attained the antagonism stage, where tourist arrival is having an adverse impact on host community. The murder of Mrs Harte was supposed to be essentially because of money, that she had in her purse, where during the trial, no evidence was really made that the two suspects had murdered her besides stealing her money. (Dfi Media Group, July 2012). In fact it was the only reason that the investigators could made as no other link could be assumed. Still the Doxeys (1976) Irridex model confirms that it is based on conjecture not on detailed empirical research.

Conclusion
Security and safekeeping of tourists is an absolute principle for a successful tourist destination (Yksel & Yksel, 2007). Tourists are considered to be susceptible to victimization of crime due to varying behaviour patterns, carrying large amounts of money, lack of familiarity with their environments, and they also tend to look different, standing out in a crowd (Pizam & Mansfeld, 1996). In a link with the Bali bombing in 2002 (BBC News, UK, March 2002), where more than one hundred tourists lost their lives and in February, this year one Belgian tourist was shot dead while lawbreakers was stealing his luxury car and six week before seven Spanish tourists were raped in the same city of Diamante in resort city in Acapulco (Fox News, February 2013). There is no comparison with the above cases discussed and the act of murder of Mrs Harte which was a one off tragedy after the existence of a paradise island trust destination. The authorities had taken adequate measures to prove that Mauritius is still a safe destination; we can say that there had no real negative impact in medium and long term effect on the destination. The Government of Mauritius through the Ministry of Tourism & Leisure have set regulations to prevent and to enhance tourist security across the country. The important additional enforcement security measures taken are; 24 hour security control through CCTV camera with infrared, dog handling services, bike patrol surveillance, motion detector surveillance, monitored electronic locking room access control, digital safe in rooms, and lastly screening of employees who need to produce a certificate of morality and character.

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References & Bibliography

Central Statistics Office Mauritius (2012) - INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL & TOURISM Year 2010-2012

Cooper, C. Fletcher, J. Fyall, A. Gilbert, D and Wanhill, S. (2005), Tourism. Principles and Practice. (3rd Edn) Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

Faulkner, B & Tideswell, C (1997), 'A framework for monitoring community impacts of tourism', Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 3-28.

Giddens, A. (1990): Sociology, 2nd Edition, Cambridge, Blackwell, Publishers.

Ntuli, TG (1998), Impact of Criminal Victimization on Tourism in St Lucia. Unpublished dissertation. University of Zululand.

Ntuli TG (2000), Impact of Crime on Socio-economic Development at Somopho, South Africa, Dept. of Social Work, University of Zululand Jan. 2000. From http:// www.business2.com/articles.com [ accessed on the 24th March 2013]

Pizam, A., & Mansfeld, Y. (Eds.). (1996). Tourism, Crime, and International Security Issues. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd .

Schiebler, S. A., J. C. Crotts, and R. C. Hollinger (1996). Florida Tourists Vulnerability to Crime. In Tourism Crime and International Security Issues, edited by A. Pizam and Y. Mansfeld. New York: Wiley, pp. 37-50. Henry McDonald (July 2011), Ireland Correspondent, The Guardian. Uk

Keyser, H, (2002). Tourism Development. Cape Town. Oxford Southern Africa

http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/bahamas_news/579230.html#axzz2PIAVM12t [accessed on the 26th March 2013]

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346018/Michaela-Harte-murder-Honeymoon-bridestrangled-Mauritius-hotel.html [accessed on the 20th March 2013]

http://www.defimedia.info/news-sunday/item/15909-national-assembly-%E2%80%93-michaela-hartemurder-damage-control.html [accessed on 7th March 2012]

http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=8577 [accessed on the 21st March 2013]

https://www.facebook.com/justiceformichaela?ref=ts&fref=ts [accessed on the 26th March 2013]

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mauritius [accessed on the 20th March 2013]

http://www.thejournal.ie/michaela-mcareavey-mauritius-prime-minister-gardai-psni-investigate524320-Jul2012/

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/02/24/belgian-tourist-murdered-in-mexican-pacificresort-city/

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/AFRICAEXT/Resources/Mauritius_success.pdf

http://www.lexpress.mu/article/dcs-de-michaela-harte-lpoux-relch-aprs-avoir-t-longuementinterrog-par-la-police [ accessed on 7th March 2013]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2002/bali/default.stm

Yksel, A., & Yksel, F. (2007). Shopping risk perceptions: Effects on tourists' emotions, satisfaction and expressed loyalty intentions. Tourism Management, 28(3), 703-713.

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