Mr. Jose Arunasalom has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Tourism Authority as from 09 January 2025.

He is holder of a bachelor’s in economics and management and a master’s degree in international relations. Mr. Arunasalom has held several senior executive positions within the private sector in Mauritius and has a long and eminent career spanning over 23 years in Parliament at different positions including the tenure as Minister of Tourism. He has also been a Member of the Pan African Parliament at its inception in 2002.

Mr. Jose Arunasalom was the driving force of the master plan for Sustainable Tourism Development in Mauritius in 1996 /1997 and initiated a major study on the “Tourist carrying capacity of Mauritius”. In 1996 he steered the successful restructuring of the former Government Tourist Office from a department of the public sector to the present Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA). He set up an innovative governance structure thereof through a parity public / private sector composition of its Board of Directors.

He concurrently, throughout 1995,1996 and 1997 held the portfolio of Minister responsible for tourism coordination within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In that capacity, he spearheaded the setting up of various mechanisms with a view to promoting the SADC countries as an attractive tourist destination, including its promotion arm, RETOSA.

He spent three years in Perth, Western Australia as Africa Director of a consortium of mining and exploration companies operating in Africa.

With his extensive knowledge and experience in international relations he is fully conversant with a wide range of issues on international development, especially in small island economies as well as in eastern & southern Africa.

Mr. Jose Arunasalom has until recently lectured Bachelor and MBA students at Vatel Business School.

He sits as Independent Director on the Board of directors of Lavastone Ltd a property Group of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM). He is a member of the Corporate Governance Committee and of the Risk Management and Audit Committee of Lavastone Group. These two committees are set up pursuant to the Rules of the SEM and to the National Code of Corporate Governance for Mauritius (2016).    

Mr. Jose Arunasalom is a Fellow of the Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD). He is also an Independent Director on the Board of two international Equity Funds incorporated in the Mauritius Financial Centre. He is since 2022 Economic Adviser of the Rodrigues Regional Assembly.