SEYCHELLES AIMS FOR MORE ‘WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS’ HONOURS
When the Seychelles scooped 5 of the World Travel Awards in 2010 for the African and Indian Ocean region, many observers were surprised, as the archipelago has seemingly come out of left field, leaving many of their more ‘established’ competitors trailing as runner up’s, yet close observers of the Seychellois tourism industry saw this recognition as an affirmation of a massive drive across the islands to improve skills, strive for perfection and in particular successfully rebrand the Seychelles in a global campaign led by a re-invigorated Seychelles Tourist Board, in which the private sector now has a major stake.
Hence, the awards to the country as ‘Leading Indian Ocean Cruise Port’, ‘Leading Indian Ocean Family Resort’, ‘Leading Indian Ocean Golf Resort’, ‘Leading Indian Ocean Green Resort’ and ‘Leading Indian Ocean Luxury Resort’ only reflected what sections of the international travel media and the tourism fraternity already knew, that ‘Seychelles was back’.
The country is now awaiting the 2011 edition of the World Travel Awards, with judges already busy compiling scores and looking at accolades, and when in September the winners for this year are announced, the Seychelles are again expected to do exceedingly well and receive the stamps of approval by their own peers from the global tourism fraternity, which has until mid August to cast their votes. Notably is ‘North Island’, which sprang into the global media spotlight as the high profile venue for the Royal Honeymoon by HRH’s The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, also amongst those vying for nomination as ‘Leading Indian Ocean Green Resort’ as in the meantime the country is getting ready to push the percentage of protected areas beyond the 50 percent margin, only awaiting formal declaration by government of additional islands to be set aside for nature conservation.
Seychelles, truly ‘Another World’ and not just a passing media hype.
