Mayotte presides over Vanilla Islands

The Vanilla Islands are six islands of the Indian Ocean that have decided to merge their endeavors for the development of tourism. In recent years, the work has focused on increasing the number of cruise passengers and the economic benefits it generates.

Constituted in association, its presidency is annual and rotating between the islands that compose it: Mauritius, Msadagascar, Seychelles, Reunion, Comoros and Mayotte. The passage to 2018 meant, in fact, a change of presidency.

This transition took the shape of a symbolic transmission of a flag between the Union of Comoros and Mayotte during a ceremony held on Thursday, 8th February. The islands have reaffirmed their wish to continue to cooperate under the banner of Vanilla Islands.

In line with the strategy initiated since 2014, the new President Soibahadine Ibrahim Ramadani declared: “I wish to consolidate the achievements and strengthen the association through the contribution of Mayotte. The cruise will be our priority. We must accelerate actions to better adapt to the arrival of cruise ships, perfect the professionalism and harmonization of tools between the islands.”

With the arrival in 2017 of more than 43,000 cruise passengers, the target of 50,000 passengers in 2020 is about to be reached. The growth of these figures by more than 200% since 2014 is a growing interest for the Indian Ocean.