MOOTOOSAMY LEAVES MTPA – AT LAST
(Posted 24th July 2015)
Karl Mootoosamy has finally owned up to the inevitable and quit the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, a move long expected after the change of government which saw his godfathers swept out of office.
MTPA during his clouded twilight years at the authority was regularly blamed for being responsible for the island’s marketing body having lost direction. This no doubt was a major reason for Mauritius losing its leading status as the most favoured tourism destination among the Indian Ocean islands. Failing to bring out the core values which made Mauritius in the past the undisputed market leader in terms of arrivals were Mootoosamy’s final years marked by a series of copy and paste jobs when he tried to use ideas and events created in the Seychelles, attempts which however ended in utter failure.
Mootoosamy was gaining notoriety among other Vanilla Island organization members when constantly either sitting on the fence or else being dismissive of the idea of cooperative marketing of the region, so his departure will no doubt also come as a relief to the member island’s representatives who can now also look forward to renewed and honest cooperation from Mauritius from here on, a trend already set by the Deputy Prime Minister who also holds the tourism portfolio, the Rt. Hon. Xavier-Luc Duval when he took over the presidency of the organization a few months ago.
The change at the helm will give MTPA hopefully the opportunity to take stock, map out new directions, re-engage with the global media, finally free of the ego driven agenda Mootoosamy imposed on the authority, ignoring critique from within MTPA as well as from large sections of the Mauritius tourism private sector.
From information at hand it will be Kevin Ramkaloan who will take charge at MTPA, coming from his previous position at as a Director at the Board of Investment in Port Louis. To him go the best wishes in his task to bring Mauritius back to its former glory days through innovative marketing and remembering the island’s strengths and appeal in its core, emerging and new markets.
