LA REUNION CAPITALISES ON VANILLA ISLAND CARNIVAL FESTIVAL EXPOSURE
The Tourism Board of La Reunion, represented in full force at the ITB in Berlin with a number of private sector stakeholders, is making the most of the recent exposure gained from being co-host of the Carnival International de Victoria on the Seychelles, where the island participated in a major way and brought the largest foreign delegation.
Already united under the Vanilla Island concept, La Reunion threw their weight behind the Seychelles Tourism Boards initiative and subsequently received significant coverage from the almost 80 media representatives who had come to Victoria to cover the event.
La Reunion has unique features such as dormant volcanoes, unlike the Seychelles, and can offer different attractions to tourist visitors such as treks up the mountains to the rim of the craters, which are very popular.
Asked how the cooperation would work a staff from the Seychelles Tourism Board preferring anonymity said: Right now tourists visiting both islands can fly with Air Seychelles to Mauritius and then with Air Austral to La Reunion, but we are hoping for direct flights between the two islands to make it easier to offer packages. In this regard it is hoped that Air Seychelles and Air Austral will be able to put a joint flight option on the market in due course, when in particular Air Seychelles is getting, what is widely expected to happen before the middle of the year, an A 320 to operate their regional flights to Mauritius and Johannesburg and the new mainland and Indian Ocean island destinations they are presently evaluating.
Visit www.reunion.fr for more information on the tourism attractions of the island and available hotels, resorts and activities for tourist visitors.
