Seychelles punching above its weight

An island nation in the Indian Ocean neighbouring Africa’s eastern coastline, while small in geographic size and remotely located, the Seychelles has become a destination with a reputation for ‘punching above its weight’. Its vital statistics clearly reflect the critical role of tourism, successful tourism, to its future growth and well-being

 

The man behind the tourism machine, that is, the Seychelles Minister of Tourism Alain St.Ange defines the responsibility of tourism leadership that sits squarely on his shoulders thus:

“It is accepted by one and all in Seychelles that tourism remains the pillar of the island's economy. As the Seychelles minister responsible for tourism my mandate remains to take the government policy forward.
“This also means remaining in touch with the industry players and with our people. The policy covers above all the duty to defend and protect the tourism industry, and to ensure that it is consolidated for the long term.

“To achieve this I know that I need our people to be integrated in the tourism industry of our Seychelles. This is why the government of Seychelles invited Seychelles to work in a united manner to claim back its tourism industry. This appeal has worked and today more Seychellois, than even before, are benefiting from their tourism industry.

 

“Today, the situation is very different indeed as more informed travellers with higher expectations of their holiday experience, seek to get beneath the skin of the country they are visiting and to return home culturally enriched by the experience.

“Whether we realise it or not, we are all being transformed by this dynamic and by what it bodes for our increasing interconnectedness, and for the terrain we must navigate in the future.

“We are, I believe, all discovering that for our tourism to remain attractive to this new generation of clued-up, increasingly discerning globe-trotters we must exploit the wider set of our destination's attributes, digging into our respective cultures to lend travellers a fresh perspective on all that we have to offer.
“This in turn, implies greater engagement with our populations whose support we need to take our tourism industry to the next level and who can find their livelihoods transformed in return as a result of this exciting new synergy.
“Central to the success of tourism destinations is making tourism an industry that all nationals are able to genuinely support, whether they work in the industry or not. Embedding the understanding around the value of the tourism economy is an essential basis of understanding for holistic support of the sector through all parts, and players, in the nation’s economy and society.”
Why is Seychelles an example in this regard?


                                                                                     As explained by the minister:

 “I have always known that if I wanted to build awareness across Seychelles I needed to make the industry more relevant to all people of Seychelles. Tourism is so important for Seychelles that it needs the population at large to remain updated so that the importance of the industry is appreciated, and the relevance of the industry that remains the pillar of their economy is understood. This means that every single national must be continuously informed of what tourism does for them, why it matters to them.
“This
is not a behind the scenes job. The position of minister of tourism is not about sitting behind a desk. Because when visitor arrival numbers are down, when length of stay drops, the buck stops with you, when the yield from tourism is down, the buck also lands with you. A tourism minister must also be ready to be involved with local business interests, guiding local development, as well as international Bodies and Conferences to ensure the country remains as visible as possible and in so doing remain relevant in the world of tourism. Ministers
ofTourism must work with passion and only passion.

It cannot only be a position with a title.
“For many destinations, and their tourism leaders, it’s not only about a responsibility within borders. For many destinations, regional co-operation is vital to not just tourism growth, but survival. Creative approaches to sector advancement, including competition through co-operation, leveraging partnerships, eliminating barriers and stimulating year-round visitor activity, have become essential strategic levers for many destinations.”
When reflecting on the tireless efforts made by the Seychelles in developing strong operating relationships across the African continent, Minister St.Ange takes on an ‘abundance’ based approach:
“I believe that unity is strength. Developing regional partnerships can only grow the region's tourism cake. This is obvious even to the most naive and sceptical observers. No island can be an island on to
itself. This is a policy of the past and a remedy for disaster.



“A transformative aspect of today's brand of tourism we are following as Seychelles is cross-border approach as we are witnessing with the upcoming 2014 edition of the Carnaval International de Victoria, now co-hosted by Seychelles, La Reunion, Madagascar, Mayotte and South Africa KwaZulu Natal. This is a clear example of states, which may once have considered themselves as rivals in tourism, coming together in an initiative to market, not only themselves but their region.
“Another example of Seychelles playing its part is in the Indian Ocean Vanilla islands and the East3Route cross -border tourism investment initiative between Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa and now Seychelles.
These kind of collaborations between neighbours and erstwhile rival states bears a clear message of the benefits of co-operation in the global marketplace and the potential for transforming lives across entire regions through joint tourism initiatives.
Today the world in which we live is changing very rapidly as the internet, social media and increased inter-connectivity between peoples at all levels of society is bringing about change at an unprecedented pace and intensity. There is practically no area of human endeavour that has remained untouched in this roller-coaster ride on the back of these ever-burgeoning technologies which create fantastic opportunities, as well as challenges in this brave new world we are entering.

“As a classic example of a people-oriented industry, tourism, upon which many of our region's economies depend to a greater or lesser extent, continues to experience profound change, forcing us to re-evaluate our approach to what makes our respective destinations attractive to consumers, and which channels we use to get the message across in the ever-more-crowded, global market place. Less than two decades ago, Seychelles was very much relying on its sun, sea and sand ticket to attract visitors to our shores, even though it is widely accepted that we have the best in a sun, sea and sand holiday. Today we are all the stronger as a destination, and as the people of the Seychelles, because we our thinking smarter, and working smarter.”
A nation, one destination, one leader, one perspective
“In any destination across the globe, the role of government is vital to the success of tourism sector growth, development and competitiveness. Likewise, the role of tourism is for the unification of the people of the destination through economic, social, environmental and ideological advancement and identity
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