Is this the secret of the Seychelles’ success to market the archipelago?Read on on to find out!
Tourism promotion meets with
success as Seychelles Carnival makes the cover page of May 2015 edition of European magazineSuccess is easy to take for granted, but the tireless efforts by the Team at the Seychelles Tourism Board to keep Seychelles visible in the four corners of the world is no easy feat at all. One of their success stories in achieving visibility for the Seychelles islands and in so doing it tourism industry is the island’s annual Carnaval International de Victoria.
With over one hundred press houses having travelled to Seychelles to cover the 2015 edition of that carnival that was held from the 24th to the 26th of April, the coverage coming out is nothing less than amazing. BBC television has already started to air its footage on the different stories filmed as they were in Seychelles. Articles in most major tourism source markets for Seychelles have started appearing with positive articles appearing in Israel, the Middle East, La Reunion, Mauritius, the USA, the UK, France, South Africa. Today it was the popular and very respected tourism magazine in Turkey that has come out with a dedicated full colour front cover on the Seychelles carnival. Suat Tore, the Editor and Editor in Chief of the S & M Publications Ltd, the publishers of the ‘Mee Turkey Alternative Tourism & MICE Magazine’ that has hit the news stands of Europe. S&M Publication ltd. is one of the leading travel publication company in Turkey. It has three periodical travel magazines; New Focus Travel Magazine, MeeTurkey Incentive Magazine, and Arab&Turkish Travel Magazine. Moreover, it has four periodical online travel news service: Focus on Travel News; Arab & Turkish Travel Gazette,RusTourismNews, Turizmcinin Gazetesi. An annual World Travel Guide & Diary, and travel bulletins…etc {www.smpublication.com | www.ftnnews.com | www.arabturkishtravel.com |www.rustourismnews.com | www.turizmciningazetesi.com}
The cover of the ‘Mee Turkey Alternative Tourism & MICE Magazine’ is attached as photo
Both Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture and Sherin Naiken, the CEO of the Tourism Board said that they were happy to see their efforts in staging the biggest ever cultural even in Seychelles brings real visibility for the islands and all the countries who continue to see this Carnival of Carnivals as tourism trade fair with a difference. "We sold Seychelles for years pushing our sun, sea and sand. We invited the press to write about these unique selling points for a beach holiday, but we have realised since a few years now that the press had all come and done this and were just not interested in repeat stories to replay the same scratched records as they put it themselves. We need to be proactive and far sighted even when some did not understand that their own success depended on Seychelles making a giant leap forward to place its culture at the heart of its tourism development. When we place our culture at the centre of our tourism development we were in fact placing our people in the centre of the continued development of our country" said Minister Alain St.Ange when this latest tourism magazine was published with a spectacular photo of the Seychelles carnival on its front cover and full colour pages as their report on the carnival.Even the editorial of this issue of the magazine is dedicated on the 2015 edition of the Seychelles Carnaval International de Victoria.
Culture is still not something everyone appreciates which was why the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) and UNESCO organised a tourism through culture in Cambodia earlier this year. The Seychelles tourism trade individually have come out and mostly congratulated the efforts of their Tourism Board. Many Hotels, Resorts and Tourism Companies participated with carnival floats and have given a helping hand for the carnival either financially or by hosting press and officials in Seychelles for the event. "Appreciating culture is a very patriotic thing. Culture is power and following a cultural strategy in one’s tourism industry is success for the long term" Minister St.Ange says.
Reunion Island was this year again the partner country with Seychelles for the organisation of the carnival and Didier Robert, the President of the Regional Council of Reunion was personally in Seychelles as head of his island’s delegation. Xavier-Luc Duval, the Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius was the Guest of Honour at this year’s event which also saw the presence of the King of the Ashanti, the Princess Royal of Swaziland, Tourism Ministers from South Africa, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Culture Minister from Swaziland and Heads of Tourism from many more countries.
Seychelles have always said that they organise the event to speed the word of peace and harmony using culture as the base with everyone participating where political affiliation, religious beliefs and colour of the skin plays no difference. "This event is the biggest single event organised in Seychelles. well over half of the island’s population comes out to be seen and to be supporting the event that also spreads in Seychelles the spirit of harmony immaterial of political affiliation, religious beliefs and colour of the skin" said Minister Alain St.Ange when he said he had a dream when he was officially opening the 2015 edition of the carnival using again the words of John Lennon that said "You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. ….Someday we shall live as one…"
