Yes, what do these two tourism icons have in common you might ask …
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Some 15% of eTN’s overall 230,000+ travel industry subscribers receive eTN Rush, an hourly online publication that has the most timely email updates available for travel professionals and tourism leaders. eTurboNews achieved this status because it follows the news from its sources and understands the industry well. A team of dedicated writers and eTN ambassadors from around the globe contribute to eTN’s unique content touching on news about aviation, travel, tourism, the hospitality industry, economic developments impacting on the tourism industry, the environment and last but not least human rights.
In a recent poll when eTurboNews asked readers about their favorite personality in the travel and tourism industry, the number one person named was, no surprise there, Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). It was pointed out this recognition was for his work that has brought world leaders from the world of tourism together as was never seen before. He is seen today as a uniter of the industry, a catalyst who has brought the tourism and aviation captains of industry together and got them talking like no other before.
Winning a hard fought campaign to win his first term of office in 2007 was his re-election at the UNWTO General Assembly hosted by both Zimbabwe and Zambia at Victoria Falls / Livingstone a comparable walk in the park as he got re-elected unopposed. Few if any had any doubts then that Dr. Rifai was indeed the man needed at the helm of UNWTO at a critical time, when gobal travel first neared and then crossed the 1 billion travelers threshold.
A committed friend of Africa he has been at the forefront of supporting our continent with a range of practical measures, lending us his support at global forae and most important, standing by us, Kenya is a prime example, when anti travel advisories got slapped on that beautiful country by the Western powers or when for instance Skal International did a runner and hastily shifted their Mombasa Congress earlier this year to Spain. Notably did Dr. Rifai then hold a major UNWTO Conference at the very same venue from which Skal deserted their Kenyan members, leading by example and from the front as only a leader of Taleb’s quality can.
Dr. Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary General
Number two , and again no surprise there, is this correspondent’s personal favourite, the Minister of Tourism and Culture from the Seychelles, Alain St. Ange.
He, since he was seconded to the Seychelles Tourism Board in the financial year 2007/8 as Director of Tourism Marketing, ahead of a total restructuring of STB to make it more user friendly and reflect the needs of the archipelago’s private sector much better, has seen the fame of the islands rise by stellar proportions. Soon after his initial appointment was Alain made CEO of the Tourism Board and in April 2012 he was then appointed Minister for Tourism and Culture, a portfolio previously held directly by President James Alix Michel.
The President’s trust, to bring Alain into his cabinet even though he previously was an opposition Member of Parliament, paid off handsomely and some in fact saw and and continue to see it as a pure political masterstroke. First did Alain manage to arrest the projected free fall of arrivals for the year 2008 and turned the trend, ending the year with just a few hundred visitors short of the year 2007. Then did he ensure that the archipelago’s tourism promotion went into overdrive and a juggernaut was started – most famous perhaps with the launch of the Carnival International de Victoria – which seems to this day simply unstoppable.
Growth, from the second year of St. Ange’s time at the tourism board, was massive, this year by nearly 20 percent and for the first time exceeding 250.000 visitors per year.
Equally did Air Seychelles benefit from this trend, establishing new records themselves when earlier this week they welcomed their 500.000th visitor on board and on the same day the 180.000th traveler on their domestic services.
The Seychelles, small a country as it might be with just 90.000 inhabitants, punches well above its weight in the global arena and has become a textbook example of how to structure, plan and roll out destination marketing on a global scale in existing core markets but also new and emerging markets.
Alain St. Ange is a much in demand speaker at the world’s top tourism events and seen as a champion of tourism to Africa, never losing sight that the Seychelles are part of Africa and an important member of the African Union.
His knowledge of tourism as an industry and his eloquence and friendly nature have made him both my and eTN’s readers favorite tourism minister.
Congratulations to both Dr. Rifai and Alain St. Ange for ending up in the top two slots of global tourism personalities and this means a lot to this correspondent, generally seen himself as the most prolific writer for eTurboNews on African affairs.
Alain St.Ange
