48

Small emerging countries can rely on tourism for their development and turn to other developing countries while remaining strongly related to a developed country. This is the case of Mauritius.Independent since 1968, the island has taken an extroverted development path while ensuring that local actors played major role in economic diversification, particularly in tourism. The sector has become the key element of an economy that evolves towards tertiary activities. Relying on local actors, development in Mauritius is endogenous thanks to a continuous cooperation between the state and private operators. The country has also welcomed foreign investors in tourism – European and from the region in the beginning, Asian and American later – while Mauritian hotel groups exported their capital and expertise to the islands of the region. It appears that the opening, associated with an endogenous development, is an appropriate solution for a small country in the current context. The globalisation of tourism is accompanied by a concentration of the actors in the sector and moves global tourism’s centre of gravity towards Asia. This is a challenge for the Mauritian model.