India-Seychelles to jointly promote tourism

The two nations will conclude air service agreement in two weeks

India will join the grouping of Indian Ocean Islands, known as Vanilla Islands, to promote trade and tourism between the countries, Seychelles tourism minister Alain St Ange said here on Wednesday. Apart from Seychelles the group's other members are Mauritius, Maldives, Madagascar, Reunion and other islands.

India and Seychelles will also collaborate in tourism and will jointly promote destinations in overseas markets, he said. St Ange met union tourism and aviation minister in Delhi on Tuesday.

Etihad-owned Air Seychelles will also be launching thrice weekly direct flights between the island and Mumbai in December and India and Seychelles will conclude air service agreement in two weeks, he said. Currently there are no direct flights and tourists can connect via Gulf, Nairobi or Sri Lanka.

Seychelles which has a population of 98,000 attracted about 2.5 lakh visitors last year including 2300 tourists from India. "We are relatively new in India but we saw 33 percent growth last year,'' said Sherin Naiken, CEO of Seychelles Tourism board.

"Together we will be able to show case the diversity of two destinations. We are respectful of India's size and we will make sure India has the visibility,'' he said responding to query on the joint tourism efforts.