(Posted 28th August 2026)
Ambassador Dr. Alain St.Ange, the Ambassador At Large of the Republic of Seychelles delivered the opening keynote address at the CLEVENARD 2026 Conference in Alicante in Spain and said that the world of tourism needed to move and talk about tourism’s responsibility.
“International tourism now accounts for well over a billion cross-border arrivals each year. A billion journeys. And almost every conversation about tourism begins and ends with arrivals, with volume, with how many more we can attract next season” said Ambassador St.Ange before adding that tourism as an industry is never neutral. ‘It either strengthens a community, or it slowly erodes it’ he said before moving to tourism’s responsibility.
“Tourism can account for a huge share of GDP, and in small island states, it isn’t just one industry, it is the economy… money from tourism spreads in remarkable ways. A visitor’s spending reaches the taxi driver, the market vendor, the family guesthouse, the farmer supplying the kitchen. But spread is not the same as depth, and volume is not the same as value” St.Ange said adding that the tourism data we have must relate to the decisions we take and that the time was now, as this would bring real credibility. ‘We know that credibility is the currency that echoes reality ahead of vision statements and manifestos we all see launched at elections‘ he continued.
“Tourism is not just an industry. Handled well it is the catalyst for culture development, environment protection, sustainable development drive, youth employment machine, economic stability and more. At its best, tourism funds the preservation of heritage that might otherwise crumble. It gives traditional crafts a market, and a reason to survive. It turns a community’s story into a living exchange, rather than an exhibit behind glass. But are we preserving cultures, or are we packaging then?. It’s important to understand the difference between the two. When a sacred dance becomes a nightly show stripped of its meaning, when a place of worship becomes a a backdrop for photographs, when a community’s identity is flattened into a souvenir on a shelf is when we’ve stopped exchanging culture and started consuming it and the people who lose the most in that transaction are rarely the ones collecting the profit. How do you market a place, it’s rhythms, it’s faith, it’s food, it’s music, it’s dance without hollowing out the very thing that made it worth visiting? The answer lies in ownership. Authentic cultural tourism respects that the community owns its own story. It asks before it markets, it shares the benefit, it listens first. Get that balance right and tourism doesn’t dilute a culture. It tells a younger generation that their heritage carries a value the wider world genuinely wants to understands. Get it wrong, and we extract identity the same way we once extracted resources and called it development. This brings me to communities, the human dimension. I’ve seen tourism transform places. A remote village gains a road, than a school, than a clinic, because visitors finally gave someone a reason to invest. A young woman who might have a few options becomes a guide, then a business owner, than a leader in her own right. Tourism can be one of the most democratic industries we have. You don’t always need a degree or capital to participate. A genuine welcome and deep local knowledge carry real economic weight… Real transformation happens when local people hold genuine ownership. When decisions are made with communities, not for them and profit stays and circulates…the outcome for a good tourism industry cannot be left to chance. It’s built by policymakers who plan for resilience, by businesses willing to share ownership and profit, by travellers who choose culture over consumption. And above all, by communities empowered to tell their own stories and in their own way” Ambassador Dr. St.Ange added.
After a long powerful speech that grabbed the audience, Dr, Alain St.Ange, the Ambassador At Large of the Republic of Seychelles ended his address by saying: –
“As I end I want to say to everyone. Let us ask ourselves – What can I do to help my country of origin. Tourism is a resource every country has, so let us all, each and everyone of us transform this resource into jobs, into a better economy for our country and a shared prosperity. Today the future of tourism is not being handed to us as WATO (West Africa Tourism Association) said. Tourism is instead being built by the people who are bold enough to show up for tourism.’
