Shaping Tourism as a Force for Good

The SUS-ISLAND project and Mautourco start ideating on pro-handprint innovation

What does sustainable innovation mean to the tourism business? How can the tourism business make their existing and new products more sustainable and interesting to the mass market? Can tourism become a force for doing good? The SUS-ISLAND project together with Mautourco will explore and showcase the answers to these questions.

As one of the leading destination management companies (DMC) in Mauritius, Mautourco has the ambition of becoming a pioneering sustainable DMC and an ambassador for change. The visionary management team of Mautourco is committed to co-creating sustainable value and impact with key stakeholders.

Led by the Mauritius Tourism Authority, the SUS-ISLAND project aims at reducing the negative sustainability impact or footprint (e.g. resources overuse, emission, water and waste generation) and increase the positive sustainability impact or handprint (e.g. ecosystems quality, community development)

Mautourco joined the SUS-ISLAND project team as a pilot DMC to test and showcase approaches to create better value with a lower footprint and to mainstream sustainable tourism innovations.

In April 2019, SUS-ISLAND supported the Mautourco management team to jointly define its vision, targets, ideas and action plans for an aspirational pro-handprint innovation journey. The management team defined appropriate measures in the areas of excursions, transportation, collaboration with key stakeholders and marketing. This is the beginning of the pro-handprint innovation journey, where the authentic experience of Mauritius is preserved through innovation, local development and cultural preservation. In the following 6-12 months, Mautourco will implement the prioritized actions and launch pro-handprint products and packages. Through this journey, Mautourco will be supported to create more value at a lower footprint, and to further improve their sustainability performance.

Mautourco is the first company to pilot handprint innovations with the SUS-ISLAND project. The SUS-ISLAND team will develop a pro-handprint innovation toolkit based on the learnings from the pilots and share them with the SUS-Island member network and other committed DMCs to be inspired and replicate the successes.