Thank God it’s Friday; for those who pray and for those who play. What about those who write? Happy with two days beyond the 9 to 4 schedule? To catch up, to make stocks, or to clear the clutters?
Indlala (remember the cyclone I was talking about) weakened a little as it made landfall on the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) yesterday morning. But we just learnt it caused considerable damage. The northern part is severely affected. While here, in Mauritius, the weather is fine at the moment.
Well, what else? Don’t say I’m boasting my country. Just to mention that Mauritius has been classified among the most competitive tourist destinations, reports say. It’s not the cyclones that’d discourage tourist influx; for sure.
Tourism is the third pillar of the economy after the Export Processing Zone, manufacturing sector and Agriculture. Accounting for more than 18 billion Rupees (more than 600 million USD), it makes a significant contribution to the economic growth. Tourist arrivals have been on the steady increase from 103 000 in 1977 to more than 800 000 today; and are expected to double in the coming years.
Mauritian residing in Rodrigues, Amanoola Khayrattee (pen name Alfa King) is contributing writer and journalist to La Gazette Mag de l’océan indien and This Week News Mauritius.
Retired, former meteorological cadre, trade unionist and OSH consultant, Amanoola has written for in-house union and other journals, publications and magazines. He runs two blogs since 2007: “Alfa King Memories”, and “Le Journal d’Alfa King”. When he is not reading or writing, he is on a 10+ km daily hike in anticipation of his monthly trails.
Amanoola may be reached at [email protected].