Mauritius needs to be wary of the environmental impact of building hotels and expanding the country's tourist trade, an expert has said.
As reported by the BBC, Mauritian government environment consultant Iain Watt believes that in order for the island to sustain its beauty, legislation covering sustainability and environmental impacts need to be better enforced in order to protect the future of the island's beaches from degradation.
His comments come as the government of the island, which has a population of 1.3 million, is reported to be preparing to expand Mauritius' tourist trade by two million people per year over the next decade.
Mr Watt told the news agency that the island has "excellent legislation" in place to deal with the issue, but "the major problem is that laws are not being enforced".
Hoteliers are not doing enough to safeguard the cleanliness of Mauritian beaches, he added, believing that if the situation remains unregulated then in the long-term, "the island won't be able to support the tourist boom".
One of Mauritius ' attractions to tourists could be its sea temperature, which varies between 22 degrees C and 27 degrees C.
