Seychelles carnival of carnivals gets underway with media briefing

VICTORIA, Seychelles (eTN) – The Constance Ephelia Resort provided a befitting venue for the launch of the third edition of the Seychelles Carnaval International de Victoria, which will have 19 partic

VICTORIA, Seychelles (eTN) – The Constance Ephelia Resort provided a befitting venue for the launch of the third edition of the Seychelles Carnaval International de Victoria, which will have 19 participating foreign groups show off their floats and performances, when the juggernaut hits peak with the parade on Saturday afternoon through the streets of Victoria.

Besides already familiar faces like the Notting Hill Carnival Road Show, this year represented with twice as many dancers compared to last yearโ€™s eye candy bonanza and co-hosts La Reunion and Zimbabwe. All eyes will surely be on the Golden Rose Samba School from Brazil, which is a regular sight at the Carnival in Rio. Other groups have come from as far as China and Bali, South Korea and India, and also from the more โ€œregularโ€ carnival nations like Germany. An even larger number of floats representing the whoโ€™s who in the tourism industry of the Seychelles, and also the business community at large, will, of course, also feature in the parade compared with past years, as the new-found carnival tradition has firmly taken root now.

Main host country representative and Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St. Ange was joined at the podium by Didier Robert, President of La Reunion, as well as representatives from the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe tourism boards with the co-hosts given ample opportunity to showcase their own destinations.

Over 100 invited journalists and travel writers from across the world, with notably more Chinese scribes this year in the room, had the Ephelia conference hall packed, as the various speakers talked about what the carnival festival has done for the Seychelles and what Seychelles has done for those willing to partner in the event, like La Reunion and Zimbabwe getting that extra exposure needed to get their tourism sectors into a higher gear.

Following an intense Q&A session, which gave both President Didier Robert and Minister St.Ange the opportunity to highlight the concept of the Vanilla Island Cooperation and the willingness of key islands in the Western Indian Ocean to work hand in hand to promote travel to the diverse region, the meeting moved on to the Seselwa Restaurant of the Constance Ephelia Resort where the management of Constance Hotels in the Seychelles, led by Philippe Guitton, co-hosted with the Seychelles Tourist Board a Creole Night. The evening was filled with Creole music while the scribes and TV teams got filled with the finest Creole food creations that the Ephelia in particular is so well known for, and also with the more โ€œspiritedโ€ side of Creole social life.

It was a befitting start for an exciting three days, officially kicking off at the Seychelles International Conference Centre in the presence of President James Alix Michel on Friday evening before Saturday afternoon when the streets of Victoria will be filled with dozens of floats and performing groups from around the world.

It is truly the โ€œcarnival of carnivalsโ€ time again in the Seychelles, with an event that is bigger, better, and, already with the third edition, a globally-renowned event for which thousands of additional tourists now travel to the archipelago.

Seychelles, Another Worldโ€ฆ more than worth the visit.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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