MORONI, Comoros —The Comoros Islands have long possessed the ingredients of an Indian Ocean tourism success story: volcanic landscapes, largely undeveloped beaches, coral-rich waters, a distinctive blend of African, Arab and French influences, and a location between East Africa, Madagascar and the established island destinations of Mauritius, Seychelles and Réunion.
What Comoros has lacked is not tourism potential, but the infrastructure, connectivity, investment pipeline and international visibility required to convert that potential into a functioning visitor economy.
The 2027 Indian Ocean Island Games, known by the French acronym JIOI, could become a rare opportunity to change that trajectory. Yet the Games will only produce a lasting tourism dividend if the accommodation, transport and sporting investments being planned are designed for commercial use long after the athletes have returned home.
At the center of one proposed legacy project is Faouzia Vitry, a former Réunion regional political figure with extensive experience in Indian Ocean cooperation. Information provided to eTurboNews says Vitry has been appointed to lead a special-purpose company responsible for developing an accommodation village for the Games.
The proposed development would include approximately 200 villas used to house participants during the sporting event before being converted into permanent residential or tourism accommodation.
The plan is ambitious. It could provide Comoros with desperately needed room capacity and create an investable real-estate product for Comorians, the diaspora and regional partners. It could also become an expensive post-event liability unless ownership, utilities, management, access and market demand are settled before construction begins.
Independent public documentation confirming the SPV’s complete financing structure, construction timetable and final commercial model remains limited. These details will be essential in judging whether the village is a bankable tourism development or primarily a Games-related accommodation solution.
Faouzia Vitry Returns to Indian Ocean Regionalism
Vitry’s appointment would reconnect several strands of Indian Ocean tourism history.
In 2016, she represented Réunion at the Carnaval International de Victoria in Seychelles, an event associated with former Seychelles tourism minister Alain St. Ange and designed to bring cultures and tourism destinations together through a highly visible international carnival.
At that time, Réunion and Comoros were both associated with the Vanilla Islands regional tourism initiative, which sought to market the Indian Ocean islands collectively rather than as isolated destinations.
Vitry later served as a vice president of the Regional Council of Réunion. Regional documents identify her as having held responsibilities connected with education, youth, the Vanilla Islands and regional affairs.
According to the information supplied to eTurboNews, she also managed regional cooperation programs with a budget of approximately €64 million and served in municipal and community positions in Saint-Denis.
Her move to Comoros is therefore more than a conventional property appointment. It signals an attempt to bring regional political experience, institutional knowledge and diaspora engagement into a project that Comoros hopes will survive beyond 2027.
eTurboNews contacted Alain St. Ange, who described the proposed Games village as an opportunity to bring Comoros more visibly onto the tourism map. His broader argument is familiar across the Indian Ocean: major events are most valuable when they leave usable hotel rooms, transport links, public spaces and international awareness rather than empty structures.
What Are the Indian Ocean Island Games?
The Indian Ocean Island Games are a regional multi-sport competition involving Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mayotte, Réunion and Seychelles. The event was created to promote sporting competition, friendship and cooperation among the islands and is generally held every four years.
Comoros is scheduled to host the 12th edition in Moroni in 2027. Recent regional reporting says 18 sporting disciplines have been approved, with the Games expected to run from August 24 into early September. The program includes athletics, swimming, football, basketball, handball, judo, karate, volleyball, table tennis, tennis, pétanque and para-sport events.
Hosting the Games is significant for Comoros because the country has never before had to provide accommodation, sporting facilities, transportation and event services at this scale.
A regional inspection has already raised the issue of slow infrastructure progress. That does not mean the Games cannot be delivered, but it compresses the time available for procurement, construction, testing and operational training.
The event could attract several thousand athletes, officials, media representatives, contractors and supporters. Even if the direct visitor volume is modest by global mega-event standards, it would represent a substantial demand shock for a destination whose tourism economy remains small.
Comoros Has the Product, but Not Yet the Tourism System
Comoros consists principally of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli, while Mayotte is administered by France and remains politically disputed.
Grande Comore offers the capital, Moroni, the active Mount Karthala volcano, lava landscapes, traditional towns and beaches framed by black volcanic rock. Anjouan is greener and more mountainous, with historic settlements, waterfalls and agricultural landscapes. Mohéli has perhaps the strongest ecotourism proposition, including marine biodiversity, nesting sea turtles, whales and community-based conservation.
The country’s tourism potential has been recognized for years. A World Bank tourism review identified nature, culture and marine assets but also highlighted weak infrastructure, limited skills, poor destination management and inadequate connectivity as major barriers.
The numbers demonstrate how far Comoros remains from its Indian Ocean competitors. Central-bank data cited by Trading Economics indicate 21,718 tourist arrivals in 2024, compared with 20,297 in 2023. Even allowing for differences in statistical methods, this is a fraction of the annual traffic handled by Mauritius, Seychelles or nearby Zanzibar.
Low visitor numbers are not necessarily a weakness. They give Comoros a chance to avoid the high-density resort model and position itself around nature, culture, community tourism and small-scale luxury.
But exclusivity by itself is not a tourism strategy. Travelers still need reliable flights, functioning roads, quality accommodation, trained guides, safe boats, medical support, electricity, water, telecommunications and predictable booking channels.
The United States’ travel guidance states that formal tourism infrastructure is limited and warns that emergency response and medical treatment capacity are inadequate. Canada similarly advises travelers to exercise a high degree of caution because of limited emergency and medical services.
Those warnings are commercially important. International tour operators, insurers, corporate travel departments and event organizers consider medical evacuation, emergency planning and duty-of-care standards before placing clients in a destination.
Air Connectivity: Reachable, but Not Yet Convenient
Comoros has one primary international gateway, Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport near Moroni, along with regional airports serving Anjouan and Mohéli. World Bank project documents describe the airport infrastructure as basic and identify inter-island connectivity as a continuing national constraint.
Moroni is linked mainly through regional and African hubs. Current booking data show services or routings involving Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Air Tanzania, Air Austral and EWA Air, although frequencies and operating patterns can change seasonally.
This gives Comoros access to Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and the French Indian Ocean network, but it does not provide the frequency, pricing or schedule flexibility of Mauritius or Seychelles.
There is no dense web of nonstop European, Gulf or Asian services. Many travelers require a connection, and disrupted flights can create long delays because alternative departures are limited.
Comoros has been trying to strengthen its aviation relationships. In 2025, its civil aviation authorities signed cooperation agreements with counterparts in Singapore and Saudi Arabia as part of an effort to improve technical partnerships and position the country as a regional transport and tourism hub.
Such agreements are useful, but airlines add capacity based on sustainable demand, airport reliability, commercial incentives, and operational security. The Games can create a temporary spike. The challenge is turning that spike into recurring leisure, diaspora, business and visiting-friends-and-relatives traffic.
Inter-Island Transport Remains a Major Weakness
For tourism, Comoros is not one destination but three different island products. That makes domestic connectivity fundamental.
The World Bank has repeatedly identified poor transport connections between and within the islands as a barrier to trade, investment and tourism. Its inter-island connectivity program notes that Comoros trails Mauritius and Seychelles in both maritime and aviation links.
Sea transport has historically been constrained by inadequate ports, aging vessels, irregular schedules and safety concerns. Air services provide an alternative but can be expensive and limited.
This is where one of the country’s largest infrastructure investments could become transformational. A maritime corridor and regional trade facilitation program backed by the African Development Bank and other international institutions is intended to modernize port infrastructure, improve connections among the islands and strengthen Comoros’ position in the Mozambique Channel.
The broader financing package has been reported at about $245 million to $250 million, including $135 million from the African Development Fund and support from the European Union, European Investment Bank, French Development Agency, Islamic Development Bank and World Bank.
Although primarily a transport and trade project, better ports could support tourism through safer ferries, small-ship cruising, yacht itineraries, excursion vessels and more reliable movement of food and construction materials.
For hotels, transport infrastructure matters twice: it brings guests in and reduces the cost of supplying them.
Roads, Electricity and Water Will Determine the Visitor Experience
The quality of a tourism village cannot be separated from the infrastructure surrounding it.
Comoros’ road network has long suffered from poor maintenance and exposure to cyclones, flooding and coastal erosion. World Bank assessments describe many roads as vulnerable to extreme weather, while African Development Bank-supported projects have begun rehabilitating strategic routes.
Energy is another constraint. Hotels require dependable electricity for refrigeration, air conditioning, water pumps, internet, laundry and food safety. Comoros has experienced unreliable power supply and high generation costs.
The African Development Bank is supporting energy-sector reform, grid improvements and a greater share of solar power, while geothermal exploration around Mount Karthala is also being considered.
Progress in energy, roads and water will be more important to the success of the proposed villa village than architectural renderings.
A development of 200 villas could place substantial demand on local electricity, sewage, freshwater and waste-management systems. These services must be designed into the project’s financing rather than treated as future government obligations.
Are Big Hospitality Companies Interested?
For years, Comoros attracted little attention from international hotel groups. That may be beginning to change.
Accor and developer Mayan announced a wider Sub-Saharan African agreement that includes the planned conversion of a Moroni property into a 159-room Mövenpick hotel.
This is important because the presence of a recognized international operator can improve distribution, training, brand confidence and access to global booking systems. It can also encourage airlines, conference organizers and tour operators to take the destination more seriously.
The World Bank says construction activity in 2025 was supported partly by work linked to the Galawa Hotel, the El-Maarouf Hospital and infrastructure for the 2027 Games.
Galawa is a particularly symbolic name. The former Galawa Beach resort once represented Comoros’ strongest claim to international resort tourism before political instability and operational difficulties undermined the sector. A successful revival could restore international confidence, while another stalled project would reinforce investor caution.
The current pipeline remains too limited to call Comoros a major hospitality investment market. Large international groups are not yet competing aggressively for sites, and the country does not appear among Africa’s largest hotel-development pipelines.
That creates both risk and opportunity. Early investors face operational complexity, but they also enter before land values, brand competition and development density rise.
The Diaspora May Be the Most Bankable First Market
Vitry’s proposed emphasis on the Comorian diaspora is commercially sensible.
Comoros has a large overseas population, particularly in France and the French Indian Ocean. Diaspora travelers already have family, cultural and emotional reasons to visit. They are less dependent on conventional destination marketing and may be more willing than first-time leisure travelers to accept limited infrastructure.
A villa product could appeal to diaspora families seeking second homes, holiday residences or retirement investments. It could also serve visiting relatives, wedding groups, government delegations, consultants and small conferences.
However, selling property to the diaspora should not be confused with creating a tourism industry. A residential development can remain empty for much of the year unless it has professional rental management, air access, maintenance, security, utilities and a mechanism for placing units into a short-term accommodation pool.
The strongest model would combine private ownership with centralized hospitality operations, allowing villas to generate income when owners are absent.
What Comoros Can Learn from Seychelles, Mauritius and Réunion
Comoros cannot and should not attempt to copy its neighbors exactly.
Mauritius has a large resort economy, a sophisticated aviation network, and a mature financial sector. Seychelles has established a high-value, lower-volume tourism model supported by global air access and luxury hotel brands. Réunion benefits from French and European infrastructure, public funding and domestic connectivity.
Comoros’ competitive advantage is different. It is less developed, more culturally intimate and more adventurous. Its future may lie in a combination of:
- Small eco-lodges and marine tourism on Mohéli;
- Volcano, hiking and cultural itineraries on Grande Comore;
- Heritage, agriculture and landscape tourism on Anjouan;
- Diaspora travel and family events;
- Regional sport, education and government meetings;
- Boutique resorts rather than mass-market coastal construction;
- Combined itineraries with Mayotte, Madagascar, Tanzania, Réunion, Mauritius and Seychelles.
The Vanilla Islands concept remains relevant here. A traveler may not cross the world solely for a week in Comoros, but the islands could be compelling as part of a multi-country Indian Ocean itinerary.
That requires easier regional air links, coordinated visas, shared marketing, baggage agreements and reliable ferry or cruise options.
Opinion: The Games Village Must Be a Tourism Business from Day One
The proposed accommodation village could become a landmark development, but only if it is conceived as a permanent tourism and residential asset from the beginning.
The danger is constructing 200 villas to a sporting deadline without confirming who will operate them afterward, who will maintain the roads and utilities, how owners will obtain title, how units will be marketed internationally, and whether there is enough year-round demand.
The correct sequence is not “build for the Games and decide later.”
The correct sequence is to establish the post-Games operating model, secure professional management, map airlift demand, define investor protections, complete environmental and social assessments, and then design the village around those requirements.
Governance will be decisive. Vitry has emphasized, according to the project information supplied to eTurboNews, international standards, professional management, regional partnerships and good governance. Those promises should be converted into published procurement rules, audited financing, transparent ownership structures and measurable construction milestones.
This would reassure Comorian buyers, diaspora investors, banks, hotel operators and international partners.
A Real Opportunity, but No Automatic Tourism Miracle
Comoros is entering a potentially important development period.
Its economy grew by an estimated 3.8% in 2025, with construction connected to hotels, health infrastructure and the Games contributing to activity. Major port, road and energy projects are underway or planned. International hotel interest is emerging, and the 2027 Games will bring unprecedented regional attention.
But the country remains constrained by limited airlift, basic airports, weak inter-island connections, inconsistent utilities, inadequate health and emergency services, and a small inventory of internationally marketable accommodation.
The Indian Ocean Games can provide a deadline and a reason to invest. They cannot by themselves create a sustainable tourism economy. That will depend on what happens after the closing ceremony.
Should the Games village become a professionally managed residential and visitor community, the ports improve inter-island movement, the airport attracts additional frequencies, and international operators commit to quality hotels, 2027 could mark the year Comoros moves from tourism potential to tourism participation.
Should the investments remain disconnected, Comoros risks hosting a successful sporting event without changing its long-term position in Indian Ocean tourism.
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