Mauritius Tourism Board launches celeb campaign

Ratna Bhushan

NEW DELHI, Dec. 28

IF you thought Mauritius was just about the sun, sand and sea, think again. It's also about shopping, fashion, bright lights and a happening night life. Still not convinced? What if the likes of fashion diva Ritu Beri and model-plus-VJ Malaika Arora recommended the place?

If you are wondering just what these two have to do with Mauritius, then the answer is — helping boost tourism in an industry handcuffed by the September 11 attacks, market downturn, the stock market crash and other dampeners.

The Mauritius Tourism Board has upped the ante and is embarking on an unusual and uncharacteristic advertising strategy. The Board has hired two hot celebrities — Beri and Arora — to promote the place as a great tourist destination. The hunt, meanwhile, is on for a male celebrity to advertise for the place.

But does Mauritius — with its status connotation and snob value association — need celebrity endorsement in the first place?

Yes, says Mr Viraat Raj Bhalla, Country Manager, Mauritius Tourism Board. "We wanted Mauritius to acquire a chic, fashionable and yuppie image. While Mauritius remains a niche travel destination attracting the rich and quality conscious, it had been associated with the sun, sand and the sea for too long. We wanted to break away from that perception and go beyond. That's because research told us the Indian traveller looks for more than adventure in his holiday package. Therefore the post celebrity campaign, for style and credibility," says Mr Bhalla.

Interestingly, Mauritius has never been advertised through celebrities earlier. In fact, no Indian tourism board has undertaken such an exercise earlier.

While the campaign featuring Ritu Beri has just broken and talks of the country's fashion and food association, the second ad featuring Malaika Arora will be released two months later and talk of the country's night life. The entire campaign will continue till the end of next year.

For now, the campaign is being released only in mainline dailies and travel-trade related print media. "We will possibly tap the electronic media in the middle of next year. But we may or may not extend the same campaign to television," says Mr Bhalla.

The creatives for the campaign are being handled by ad agency Madison Usgaonkar and Jayal.

The Mauritius Tourism Board is hopeful that the campaign will bring in the results. In the calendar year 2001, for example, the number of Indians visiting Mauritius is expected to average 20,000 which translates into a 10 per cent growth over the previous year, against 22 per cent projected earlier. The Board is expecting a 24 per cent increase in the tourist inflow from India in the calendar year 2002.

Pic.: Ritu Beri in one of the campaigns