Tourism Day message by Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture

The Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St.Ange, has appealed for better understanding of the tourism industry in his World Tourism Day message. In his message, Minister St.Ange reiterated that tourism is everybody’s business.

“People of Seychelles, tourism is the pillar of our economy. As I welcome you all at this event to mark World Tourism Day, let me start by saying Happy Tourism Day to one and all. Today we join those nations in the world of tourism who are serious about tourism and who believe in their tourism in celebrating Tourism Day,” Minister Alain St.Ange said.

The Minister also called on every Seychellois to be more pro-active in the development and in working for the consolidation of Seychelles tourism industry.

“My call to every Seychellois and to everyone who is involved in the tourism industry is for us all to understand the tourism industry, to appreciate the tourism industry more, and to see how we can enrich and improve our tourism industry. One of the primary challenges for the tourism industry is to ensure that Seychelles remains attractive as a tourism destination. In today’s busy world, there are few countries which are not engaged in the tourism, and we are in a very competitive marketplace. Worldwide there are many places for people to visit, many holiday choices to make, and many alternatives are today available. As a destination we must, to coin a phrase, dress ourselves up in our Sunday best, if we are to continue to attract our customers,” the Minister said.

Minister St.Ange said that the Seychelles Tourism Board’s major task is to market Seychelles for the benefit of all the Seychellois, and so everybody needs to work with them and needs to give them support in the work they do. “The Tourism Board is out to attract visitors to our shores. They are like the fisherman who needs to go out fishing if they are to bring fish to the market. To catch fish you do not sit in the fish market and discuss with those looking for fish, but you get into your boat and go fishing on the fishing bank where there are fish. This what our Tourism Board is doing – finding and attracting tourists to come here for the benefit of our country and for the benefit of all its citizens. Marketing is not, and cannot, be done in Seychelles. It is done in the market place, it is done in countries where we can get tourists to visit Seychelles,” Minister Alain St.Ange said.

The Minister went on impress on all gathered that: “As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so let us all make sure that our first impression is a good one. This positive image of Seychelles is extremely important, because it is this same image that will trickle down by word of mouth to our potential visitors. This first impression will find its way onto international websites in the form of comments and reviews, and it will help form the opinions, positive or negative, of other visitors who may, or who may not, decide to visit our shores as a result,” outlined Minister St.Ange in his message.

To conclude his Tourism Day Message, Minister Alain St.Ange appealed to all who have a part to play in the Seychelles tourism industry to cooperate to the maximum and ensure that tourism is not only consolidated, but becomes sustainable for the long-term benefit of the nation.

“Let us all, therefore, take steps to understand this tourism industry upon which our present and future prosperity depends. Let us support it in all that we do, and in so doing, we will ensure that it grows from strength to strength. One way to do this is to take interest in strengthening and in invigorating our unique Seychellois Creole culture.”

Seychelles is celebrating Tourism week 2012 under the theme “Tourism and Sustainable energy: powering sustainable development.”