VANILLA ISLANDS SET TO LAUNCH VANILLA TV
(Posted 28th January 2014)
News just broke that the Vanilla Islands will in April this year launch their first joint TV station under the name of OI7. Aimed to promote the various islands’ tourism attractions the station will also heavily feature cultural events, economic and general interest news. This is the second concrete step to pursue common interests after last year the Seychelles and La Reunion signed a number of agreements vis a vis bilateral partnership and increased trade ties, expanding the original idea of making the islands more visible in the global tourism area to open up additional opportunities of cooperation. Under the Vanilla Island Organization, announced in September last year on the island of Reunion alongside a major UNWTO sustainable tourism conference for small island states and formally launched at WTM 2013, the Seychelles and Reunion are joined by Mauritius, Madagascar, Mayotte, The Comoros Islands and more recently by the Maldives. More islands like Sri Lanka, Zanzibar and the Mozambique islands expected to get invitations to come on board soon.
Programmes it is understood will be drawn from across the Vanilla island members and the channel then feature alongside national television broadcasts with an intended expansion through syndication over the next 5 years to as many as 100 countries.
The launch in April might suggest that the 4th Carnaval de Carnivals, the Carnival International de Victoria may be used as a launch platform, as the global media are once again expected to come to the Seychelles, where La Reunion will – as the island has done since the inaugural edition – co-host the festival.
For more information visit the Facebook page of the Vanilla Islands via
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iles-Vanille-Vanilla-Islands/158109091049089?ref=ts&fref=ts
