Seychelles Minister Uplifting Message on World Tourism Day

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Seychelles Minister on World Tourism Day
Avatar of Linda S. Hohnholz
Written by Linda S. Hohnholz

On this day each year, Seychelles joins 158 other member states of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in commemorating World Tourism Day. This day highlights the significance of the travel and tourism industry, and also as a day of celebration and reflection. Under our theme “Shaping our future,” we applaud our people and their contributions.

  1. Every Seychellois, every sector of economic activity in the country should be involved in the process of inclusive growth.
  2. Because of COVID-19, like all other countries on the planet, Seychelles was confronted with the near collapse of the tourism industry.
  3. The nation quickly realized that adaptation to changing circumstances was the key to its survival.

UNWTO has designated World Tourism Day 2021 as a day to focus on Tourism for Inclusive Growth. Inclusive growth is what we are striving for as we seek to recover from the impact of the pandemic. And it will be driven by tourism. It concerns every one of us, and every Seychellois, every sector of economic activity in our country should be involved in this process. Especially in this “new normal.”

Confronted with the near collapse of our industry, we realized that adaptation to changing circumstances was the key to our survival. We took immense but calculated risks, linking economic recovery and the protection of our people’s and our guests’ health and safety through the launch early in 2021 of a robust and wide-ranging vaccination program against COVID-19, allowing us to boldly open up to the world in March. We are now reaping the dividends of those measures that we took together.

Seychelles logo 2021

But we should not, and cannot, be complacent. We are not alone in adapting to the new normal. Our competitors are equally aggressive and innovative in their tourism marketing campaigns. In the face of fierce and unrelenting competition, we must continue to offer value for money.  We must ensure that the accommodation and services we offer are up to standard, and even superior to what is accepted and expected. We should focus more on offering a greater degree of authentic and community-based tourism experiences reflective of our brand. Also, and of no less importance, we must continue to stamp out all illegal and underhand practices that undermine our tourism and hospitality industry, and bring disrepute to our image.

On this World Tourism Day, I therefore call for unity, unity within the tourism sector. Because, beyond the statistics, we know that behind each figure concerning this industry, there is an operator, there are women and men. So to raise our tourism industry to higher standards and overcome the challenges ahead, without marginalizing anyone, we must join forces. By all sharing the same vision and the same desire to see tourism prosper, by working especially together, we will emerge triumphant. There is little doubt.

With great admiration for your dedication and passion, we thank you for putting your hearts into our tourism industry.

Today we celebrate you. Happy World Tourism Day!

About the author

Avatar of Linda S. Hohnholz

Linda S. Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz has been an editor for eTurboNews for many years. She is in charge of all premium content and press releases.

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