SEYCHELLES AND LA REUNION SIGN CO-HOSTING AGREEMENT
The President of the Regional Council of the French island of La Reunion Mr. Robert Didier and Seychelles Tourism Minister Alain St. Ange signed a new agreement on the sidelines of the just concluded Carnaval de Carnivals – The Carnival International de Victoria which cements the three year old relationship between the two leading Vanilla Island partners for future events.
La Reunion will continue to co-host the annual carnival festival alongside the Seychelles, giving substantial additional exposure in the international tourism markets to La Reunion, which by admission of key staff attending the Carnival last week in Victoria has given their tourism sector a major boost vis a vis visibility and market penetration.
The renewed partnership allows to bring other partners on board too, as was the case this year with Zimbabwe and Madagascar and the Seychelles do expect to sign up additional co-hosts for the 2014 edition of the already globally renowned carnival festival, which brought the world of carnivalists to Victoria this year with 15 participating countries from around the globe.
Alongside the co-hosting of the festival did the agreement also include further measures of cooperation whereby hospitality students from La Reunion can now study at the Seychelles Tourism Academy and placement programmes in Seychelles based resorts will be availed to them, with reciprocity for Seychellois hospitality students to undergo their industrial training and attachment period in resorts on La Reunion. ‘La Reunion and Seychelles have a special relationship. We cooperate for the carnival and we cooperate in the Vanilla Islands initiative. It now needs to see island hopping packages created by DMC’s and for airlines to link the two partner islands so that tourists can visit and explore both. They have very distinct features which are unique and special’ said a regular source from the tourism board in Victoria. Visit www.seychelles.travel and www.reunion.fr for more information and details on the two destinations.
