Reunion embraces a holistic view on tourism developments and excellence

EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE DELIVERY IS A KEY TO SUCCESS AS IRT MEET LOCAL MEDIA

(Posted 20th March 2015)

IRT, aka Ile de la Reunion Tourisme, yesterday met the local media at their offices in St. Paul to brief them on a range of activities and measures taken to further improve tourism services for visitors to the island.

Extensive attention was given to a new guide of how best to handle the expectations of certain leading nationalities of visitors coming to Reunion, which was created by the group known as PTE or Professionals for Tourism Excellence. The nationalities, for now, are South Africa, China, India and Germany though more target markets may be included in a future edition.

The choice of these nationalities becomes obvious when considering the following points:

  • Germany is Europe’s largest source market for Reunion, with over 10,000 arrivals in 2014;
  • South Africa is a fast developing market for the past three yearsChina and India have obtained administrative relief with the exemption of visas for Chinese and Indian tourists for short tourism stays in Reunion.

Objective: To create the ideal conditions for a successful exchange with various clienteles

Published in the form of sheets, the guide "Getting to know to better accommodate" provides a detailed profile of German, Chinese, Indian and South African visitors. These profiles were obtained from several studies conducted on these different markets. For each of these four nationalities, professionals in the tourism Reunion discovered:

  • their patterns of tourism activities;
  • their expectations vis-à-vis the destination and in terms of services;
  • a lexicon in their language (English, Hindi, Chinese, German);
  • their desired type of stay, i.e. pure leisure or more active adventure holidays;
  • their preferences in cuisine.

With 3.000 copies printed will these guides be distributed to about 1.000 recipients across Reunion’s tourism industry. The new guides can also be downloaded from the website of Reunion Tourism as of today, 20th of March.

Cultural tourism: a major challenge for the island of Reunion

This new action is in line with those conducted upstream in order to establish a common culture tourism in Reunion.

Reminder:

  • the Innovation Tourist Trophy "Osez le Tourisme", designed for students studying for their Bachelor and Master degree;
  • enhancement of the tourist attraction of the island with the teaching moments for schools: Happy Families game on the theme of tourism for primary classes, learning booklet on business tourism for students in third, a challenge pictures on tourism businesses towards the second classes);
  • the campaign "Proud of my island and my job" with 24 videos made ??on the trades so immersive tourism

Through these actions, the PTE group aims to contribute to the excellence of the tourist destination through innovation of its tourism products, training its players, awareness of industry professionals and the local population.

In 2015 PTE provides for the signing of a partnership with ERASMUS, signing a partnership with the Confucius Institute and the University in order to encourage Chinese students internships with professionals and make the prescribers destination, organizing awareness half-days in English from Reunion professional, broadcast spots "The tourism moment" 1st Meeting on local chain (TV and Internet).

* The PTE group includes the Regional Council, the Fund Insurance Training of Employees of Enterprises and Agricultural Holdings (FAFSEA), the Council Economic, Social and Regional Environmental (CESER), Pôle Emploi, the Enterprise Directorate of Competition, Consumption, Labour and Employment (DIECCTE), the Rector, the University of La Réunion, the Professional University Institute (IUP) Tourism, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of La Réunion (CCIR), the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), the Union of Industry Hospitality Trades (UMIH), the Union of Hoteliers of Reunion (UHR), the Tourism Club, the National Union of Travel Agents (SNAV ), the Association for Professional Training of Adults Reunion (AFPAR), the Insurance Fund for the Hospitality Industry Training (FAFIH) Opcalia, the Association for the Management of Small and Employee Training Medium Enterprises (SMEs AGEFOS) Regional Committee of Innovation and Tourism Directorate.

(Participants of the media briefing and press conference held yesterday in St. Paul / Reunion)