Emirates has renewed its support to Mauritius and the Seychelles by extending a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which outlines joint activities to promote the two countries.His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group met a VIP delegation from Mauritius and Seychelles at Arabian Travel Market, 2019.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed at Arabian Travel Market, by Orhan Abbas, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Africa and Sherin Francis, Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Tourism Board, and Arvind Bundhun, Director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, in the presence of the Didier Dogley and Anil Kumar Gayan, Tourism Ministers of Seychelles and Mauritius respectively.

“We have enjoyed long and fruitful partnerships with both Mauritius and Seychelles, and have taken an active role in boosting the tourism industry of the island nations. Our commitment to these destinations and the partnership forged with the respective government authorities, have seen great success”, said Orhan Abbas, Senior Vice President – Commercial Operations (Africa).

“The renewal of our agreements underpins our confidence that the growth of tourism to both Mauritius and Seychelles can be further developed, and we remain confident that we will continue to see these numbers grow”, he added.

“The signing of this MOU with Emirates underpins the long-standing strong relationship, developed over a decade, between the Government of Seychelles and the leadership of this global airline. We value the services Emirates has provided and continues to provide to the Seychelles and its tourism industry. We look forward towards further deepening this relationship towards our mutual benefits”, said Didier Dogley, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine of the Seychelles.

“I am happy that we are renewing this Memoradum of Understanding with Emirates as this is the basis on which we have built a very strong partnership. We have the same outlook and we share the same vision in respect of developing a mutually beneficial strategy. We look forward to working with Emirates in the same friendly spirit that originally inspired the MoU”, stated Anil Kumar Gayan, Minister of Tourism of Mauritius.

In 2018, 361,844 tourists visited Seychelles and Mauritius welcomed 1,399,408 tourists. The destinations’ main markets include France, UK, Germany, India, Italy, China, the Russian Federation, and UAE.

The agreement will see marketing activities such as attendance of tourism trade shows and fairs, trade familiarisation trips, product presentations and workshops, amongst others, be undertaken jointly by Emirates and the Tourism Boards.

In June 2015, Emirates increased its capacity to the Indian Ocean Island of Seychelles, when it switched from the Airbus 330-200 used on one of the two daily services to a larger Boeing 777-300ER. The introduction of the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER increased the overall capacity on the route by 1722 seats per week and made the route an all-Boeing 777 operation.

Emirates started operations to the Mauritius in September 2002 with three weekly flights. The daily A380 service was launched in December 2013 whereas the double-daily service was introduced in October 2014, following a strong demand for Emirates’ flagship aircraft on this route.

Emirates has a fleet of 271 aircraft and flies to 158 destinations in 86 countries and territories across six continents.