The exclusive 'Friends of Seychelles – Press' group has recently ...

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Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture chaired a Press Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin City Center with Elsia Grandcourt, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board at his side. The existing relationship between Seychelles and Shannon College of Hospitality Management was explained, as he welcomed the presence of Mr Philip Smyth, the Director of the Shannon College. The Seychelles Minister also acknowledges the presence of Mr Jim Flannery, the Tourism Ireland Personnel who was contracted by UNWTO as the Consultant to undertake the reorganisation of the Seychelles Tourism Board’s restructuring before the existence of the Ministry of Tourism. Welcoming Mr John Enright, a former Irish Tourism Board Consultant who was recruited to relaunch the Seychelles Tourism Board in the 1980s, in his speech Minister St.Ange highly praised Mr Enright his former boss. “I have the pleasure to say a big welcome to John Enright, who was my boss when he arrived in the Seychelles from the Cayman Islands to head the island’s tourism. In those days I worked alongside John Enright as his Assistant to the Director of Tourism. Please give John Enright a big round of applause,” Minister St.Ange said. A Seychelles promotional DVD provided the most pleasing of backdrops as the Minister took the gathered press members through a very personal guided discovery of the Seychelles. A forty minutes expose on why the Seychelles is the most idyllic holiday destination was presented. “We are today more accessible to receive the Irish would be holiday maker and the Irish honeymooners as never before. We have an impressive range of all the best, and all the most known branded hotel chains in Seychelles operating side by side with excellent local ‘home grown’ properties. Between the two groups we have hotels for all taste, we have hotels for all expectations and we have hotels for all budgets. This is at a time when we have more airlines connecting directly from Ireland to the Seychelles with just one stop. This is why we are today saying that Seychelles is accessible as never before,” Minister St.Ange said. A list of Unique Selling Points of the islands were then tabled; from the visa free provision, being disease free, having a weather pattern that got the Seychelles listed as the islands of perpetual summer, to the safety label enjoyed by Seychelles because through the Seychelles Friends of Seychelles - Press Issue 15 left to right, Mrs Grancourt CEO and Minister St. Ange Brand of Tourism, the people see themselves in their industry with the inclusion approach. “We know that we are the perfect group of mid-ocean tropical islands. We have clear and clean turquoise blue seas lapping the clear and clean white sandy beaches, and we remain good custodians of what we have been blessed with. We today have over 50% of the total land area of our island declared as protected National Parks. We remain the islands where pictures can never do justice to the beauty of the islands. When you land in Seychelles the first impression is exactly that the Seychelles remains prettier than any picture you have seen of these mid-Ocean islands. This is contrast to many other destinations where you say and where you will repeat that they do not do justice to the pictures they use for their promotional campaign,” the Seychelles Minister said.
For the honeymoon market Minister Alain St.Ange was candid as he said that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton had the world at their fingertip when they needed to choose their very own honeymoon destination after their much publicized wedding “They choose the Seychelles. Yes they had been before, and yes they came again for that special honeymoon holiday. I can only say that it is good enough for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge it must be a good honeymoon destination to the pretty Irish Brides,” the Seychelles Tourism Minister said. An open question and answer session followed which engaged the members of the press and where it became very evident that everyone in the room had been sold the Seychelles as the tourism destination with a difference. Minister Alain St. Ange & Becky Anderson Anchor Reporter for CNN The very well-known Becky Anderson of CNN met with the Seychelles Tourism and Culture, Alain St.Ange at the annual CNN WTM Dinner at Nobu Restaurant, Old Park Lane in London. Becky Anderson is a highly respected Anchor Reporter for CNN, and this year she was the host of the CNN dinner. The meeting availed Minister St.Ange of the Opportunity to invite Becky Anderson to visit Seychelles. The Minister was accompanied by the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Elsia Grandcourt. The meeting with Becky Anderson was also a chance for Minister St.Ange to give a unique exposure of Seychelles, the mid-ocean granitic islands in the Indian Ocean just three degrees south of the Equator. Seychelles is also known as the tourist destinations with spectacular clean white beaches and clean and clear turquoise blue seas and the tourism industry the pillar of its economy. “The meeting with Becky Anderson was a great opportunity to again this year speak about Seychelles. I was honored to be seated at her table this year. Becky is a great person, and the CNN WTM Dinner was the perfect opportunity to extend the invitation to visit Seychelles,” Minister St.Ange of the Seychelles said. Friends of Seychelles - Press Issue 15 BBC's Keshini Navaratnam & Seychelles Minister of Tourism Alain St.Ange After inviting CNN’s Becky Anderson to the Seychelles, the Minister of Tourism and Culture extended his invitation to another well known media personnel, Keshini Navaratnam. Keshini Navaratnam from the BBC is often seen interviewing high profile persona, met with the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, Alain St.Ange, and together they discussed world affairs impacting on the Indian Ocean Region. A follow up meeting was then held at the World Travel Market Tourism Trade Fair at ExCel London Convention Centre, London Docklands. There, they talked about the issue of ‘armed bandits from Somalia’ affecting the shipping lanes along the East Coast of Africa and the impact it is having in the Indian Ocean. Keshini Navaratnam and Minister St.Ange were both at the House of Commons in London when Tourism experts rallied alongside Martin J. Craigs, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), to present their arguments as to why these carbon taxes are detrimental to long haul destinations that have become less competitive in terms of pricing as a result.
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