The Mauritius stand at the Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB) Berlin, one of the most important tourism trade fairs globally, was recently privy to an important meeting between Vanilla Islands’ representatives.
Pascal Viroleau, the CEO of the Vanilla Islands Organisation, convened a meeting of all representatives of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands who were in Berlin for the 2014 ITB tourism trade fair.
The primary objective of the meeting was to discuss the end of the current presidency of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands which has been held by Seychelles Tourism Minister Alain St Ange, since the official creation of the organisation.
The change in presidency is expected to be officially announced in Seychelles at the end of April to pave the way for the handing over of the office to the 2014-15 president during the Madagascar Tourism Trade Fair in May.
Discussions also took place on several other points of concern raised by different island representatives.
For the meeting, Mauritius Tourism Minister Michael Sik Yuen and his Seychelles counterpart Alain St Ange, also the President of the Organisation, joined tourism chief executives of the member islands: Sherin Renaud, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board; Karl Mootoosamy, CEO of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA); Michel Ahamed, the Director of Mayotte Tourism and Jocelyn Ramanambohitra, the Vice President of the Board of the Madagascar Tourism Office.
The ITB, currently underway in Germany,is an important occasion to judge tourism trends for the Vanilla Islands, as Germany is an important source market for tourists to the member states, only the second after France in fact.
It may be noted that the Vanilla islands comprise Comoros, La Reunion, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mayotte and the Seychelles and the Vanilla Island organisation has a primary mission to assist the various island member states in their particular tourism boards. It additionally seeks to promote and develop the concept of island-hopping between its member states.
Image (Indian Ocean Times): The primary objective of the meeting was to discuss the end of the current presidency of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands, held by Seychelles Tourism Minister Alain St Ange.
Source: Seychelles Ministry of Tourism and Culture
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