REUNION TOURISM ARRIVALS JUMP
The French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion established a new visitor peak for the year 2011, when 471.268 arrivals were recorded. This constitutes an increase over the previous year 2010 by 12.1 percent, way ahead of the global average increase in tourism, which was pegged at 4.4 percent by the UNWTO.
Partnering with the Seychelles for the Carnival International de Victoria too has increased visibility of La Reunion, thought to exponentially benefit the island in coming years, as will the decision by La Reunion based Air Austral to immediately resume flights to Sydney after the sudden withdrawal by Air Mauritius from that route was announced a few weeks ago. All this will benefit the island, the very least through extra transit passengers, if not en route stopovers when travelers take advantage of special offers put on the market for that purpose.
Notably did spending increase above the 12.1 rise in arrivals, recording a new record also with 388.7 million Euros, a rise over 2010 by 18.3 percent.
La Reunion, together with the Seychelles and other Indian Ocean islands like Mauritius, Madagascar, Mayotte and the Comoros work hand in hand to promote Indian Ocean island holidays under the joint Vanilla Islands concept, which has seen increased marketing activities, often hand in hand with key airline partners.
