CONGRATULATIONS TO DIDIER ROBERT AS THE NEWLY ELECTED VANILLA ISLAND PRESIDENT
(Posted 16th May 2014)
When the ballots were cast and the votes counted there was relief among most in the room as Didier Robert, President of the Regional Council of Reunion, was declared the newly elected head of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Island organization, a position he will now hold for one year.
Three weeks earlier did an attempt to choose the new man at the helm fail in Victoria as a deadlock arose when other candidates were put forward as candidates.
Didier Robert is known to be a staunch supporter of the Vanilla Island concept and has defended Reunion’s membership and contributions repeatedly in the past, pointing to a significant rise in arrival numbers. Didier Robert has left no doubt that this came as a result of a close cooperation with key partner islands as well as the joint promotion the Vanilla Island Organization undertakes at the leading tourism trade shows. He was the first to throw his personal support behind the Seychelles’ Carnival International de Victoria when making Reunion the co-host for the event and staying the course.
Like former Vanilla Island Organization president Alain St. Ange, Minister for Tourism and Culture in the Seychelles’ government, it takes a person who is 100 percent behind the concept to lead the young organization onwards, someone who has practiced what he preached and Didier Robert is exactly the man the Vanilla Islands needed to solidify past gains and prosper some more in the future. Congratulations to Didier Robert on his election and a vote of thanks to Alain St. Ange who served for the past two years and made the Vanilla Islands visible to the world as a new tourism region in the Indian Ocean.
