Call is made to unite Seychelles behind March carnival

Ms. Maryvonne Pool, Seychelles Honorary Consul in Tanzania who is also a Seychelles Tourism Ambassador, arrived in Seychelles last weekend with a valuable donation of a 15×3 meter Carnival banner, which will soon grace the roadway at Roche Caiman, the proposed starting point for the Float procession for the 2011 Seychelles “Carnaval International de Victoria.”

Her donation will soon be accompanied by 6 more, 3-meter banners, which will all be put to good use in Victoria to publicize the upcoming 2011 Seychelles “Carnaval international de Victoria,” due to be held between March 4-6, 2011.

In accepting the donation at the Seychelles Tourism Board’s Headquarters at Bel Ombre, the Board’s Chief Executive Officer said that it was encouraging to see a committed Seychelloise come forward to help make this coming national event the success it will be. “Maryvonne is an example of the togetherness our country needs as the call to ‘Unite Seychelles’ is being made. She made contact and said what can I do for my country to make its 2011 Carnival a success. Today we are receiving the biggest waterproof banner Seychelles has ever put up, and it will become an icon from this week until the start of the carnival.”

Committing participation from the other end of the spectrum, two members of the COI (Indian Ocean Commission) Islands, La Reunion, and Seychelles, will be participating in the 2011 Seychelles “Carnaval International de Victoria.” This island group whose members also include Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, and Mauritius, recently agreed to market themselves under the banner of the “Vanilla Islands,” and now, two of those islands will be represented at the carnival being held in the Indian Ocean.

In that same spirit of unity in marketing the Indian Ocean Islands as a group, Madagascar hosted a Tourism Fair in December 2010 and La Reunion also did the same in October 2010, which was attended by a tourism delegation from Seychelles as a gesture of solidarity with its Indian Ocean neighbors.

At the 2011 Seychelles “Carnaval International de Victoria,” it is confirmed that La Reunion and the Seychelles Islands will fly the flag of the Indian Ocean Islands and showcase the natural joie de vivre of their respective island nations and the unique island-style way of life they enjoy, besides other, enticing attributes that make them both attractive and popular holiday destinations.