Travel and Tourism in Réunion

International tourist arrivals set a new record

Réunion experienced a new record in international arrivals in 2012, as a result of increasing marketing activities. The island has firmly established itself as an exotic destination for French and European holidaymakers. Furthermore, the island’s geographical position and its status as an overseas French department make Réunion an ideal hub for investors wishing to develop their activities with Africa, Asia, Europe, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East.

Joint marketing of Indian Ocean islands helps promotion of the island

Réunion’s tourism authority, along with the tourist boards of Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Comoros, have been cooperating to market the Indian Ocean islands as a joint tourist destination under the Vanilla Islands concept, resulting in an increase in marketing activities, Partnering with the Seychelles for the Carnival International de Victoria has also increased exposure of Réunion as a destination. The national tourism board has also been promoting the island via different international fairs, such as Top Resa held in Paris (France) in 2012.

Increase in airline routes to boost passenger traffic

In February 2013, Air Austral began flights between Chennai and Réunion, with the aim of growing cultural, tourism and industry-specific links between Tamil Nadu and Réunion. This new route, the first direct one between the two destinations, offers great opportunities for partnerships and will reinforce Réunion’s already strong links with India. Also, the decision by Réunion-based Air Austral to start flights to Sydney after the sudden withdrawal by Air Mauritius from the Réunion-Sydney route will benefit the island through the arrivals of extra transit passengers and a rise in en route stopovers, especially if travellers take advantage of special offers introduced for this purpose.

Ecotourism becomes a high priority for Réunion’s travel and tourism industry

Réunion is aiming to develop an ecological tourism sector, with the objective of welcoming a total of 600,000 international tourists by 2020. Together with the French Government, Réunion is implementing a mobilisation plan for the development of green economy trade, with the view of strengthening tourism and other sectors. A number of European collaboration projects, such as research on tropical and subtropical biodiversity, are already underway. Starting in 2007, Réunion began implementing HYPERLINK "http://pedagogie2.ac-reunion.fr/svt/gerri_eng.pdf" \t "_blank" \o "gerri green energy revolution" project, aiming to be the first territory in the world where all low-carbon innovations are integrated into society, with this expected to happen by 2030.

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