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Indian Ocean islands developing tourism together

Indian Ocean islands developing tourism together

The Vanilla Islands have been successfully developing the cruise tourism sector in the Indian Ocean seeing growth from 14,000 passengers in 2014 to almost 50,000 cruise visitors in 2018.

Azzedine Bouali, President of the Réunion Tourism Federation, was leading a delegation for a 2-day working visit to Seychelles last weekend accompanied by Pascal Viroleau, the CEO of the Vanilla Islands, to meet with Minister Didier Dogley, the Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine.

Alongside Mr. Bouali were Gerard Argien, the Director of the Reunion Tourism Federation, and Emmanuelle Lorion, who is the one responsible for Cooperation at the Federation.

In Seychelles, they took time to meet Alain St.Ange, Head of Saint Ange Consultancy, to discuss possible cooperation for the future as and when the Vanilla Islands and the Reunion Tourism Federation will embark on sensitization strategies for the 6 member islands of the regional organization.

Indian Ocean tourism

The Indian Ocean body realizes that for this success story to become sustainable over time, the cruise ship passenger increase must be accompanied by an optimal quality of service at each port, whatever the island, and working with Tourism Ministers of the region to see more involvement of the islanders and in so doing increase spending by the disembarking passengers.

The Réunion Tourism Federation is responsible for welcoming cruise ships to Réunion. Working with the Vanilla Islands they have decided to sign a partnership agreement enabling Reunion Tourism Federation cruise ship protocol developed at Réunion to be applied to ports at the Seychelles, then to Madagascar.

Island tourism

Other islands are also involved in this initiative which aim to get the Indian Ocean recognized for the quality of its ports as well as the beauty of its landscapes.

Didier Dogley, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine, and President of the Vanilla Islands, stated when signing the protocol: “This partnership ensures that all the islands offer the same level of service quality for cruise liners and their passengers. Cruise operators expect high-level services and we’re demonstrating that we have taken the future into our own hands.”

“We work in collaboration with tourism institutions from each island to support them in implementing a process that reassures companies. Réunion has been working on the operational management of docking cruise ships in collaboration with all concerned parties,” stated Azzedine Bouali, President of the Réunion Tourism Federation.

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