Alain St.Ange, former Seychelles Minister of Tourism and acknowledged African tourism icon, embarks on a multi-country working journey, showcasing his in depth affect and contribution to international tourism via consultancy and talking engagements.
Alain St.Ange, the previous Seychelles Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine, who owns and runs his personal ‘Saint Ange Tourism Consultancy’ stays a sought-after speaker on the ‘Worldwide Speaker’s Circuit’ and is extensively regarded within the World of Tourism as a ‘Tourism Icon’ of Africa.
In the direction of the top of this week, Alain St.Ange will embark of a working journey that can take him to Mozambique & its Mozambique Island, Tanzania & its Zanzibar Island, Comoros and Kenya in addition to Mayotte of the Vanilla Islands Group earlier than returning to Seychelles on a mission that can final just below a month.
Many worldwide magazines and press have lined Alain St.Ange when he was nonetheless in workplace because the Seychelles Minister accountable for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, however the man is now extra lively than ever with tourism consultancy work with Tourism Boards, Ministries of Tourism, and the Personal Sector Commerce throughout our nice continent of Africa and within the ASEAN Block. He has even been contracted by the World Financial institution to work alongside Ministers of Tourism in Africa to help within the relook of their tourism business.
It was solely every week in the past that he accomplished his weeklong working mission in Egypt. This newest working mission will see him board the Floating Residence “The World” in Durban in South Africa to ship lectures of the important thing USPs of Mozambique & its Mozambique Island, Tanzania & its Zanzibar Island, Comoros, Kenya, and Seychelles in addition to of Mayotte of the Area’s Vanilla Islands Group. The lecture can be a day or so earlier than the posh liner enters this nation’s port.
Alain St.Ange is remembered for a lot of issues amongst which is the large enhance in visibility for his Seychelles islands which he succeeded via growing a constructive relationship with the Worldwide Press and by turning the Seychelles right into a cultural events-based tourism vacation spot over and above showcasing its key USPs: – solar, sea, and sand. He was very profitable, and that translated in recognition by the world of tourism and the press fraternity which in flip helped to ship will increase yr on yr in customer arrival numbers for Seychelles, the mid-ocean tourism vacation spot. Alain St.Ange and his Crew in Seychelles by no means missed a chance in these days to spell out that success was visibility, visibility and visibility as a result of in any other case, the vacation spot would merely fade away. He’s recognised for by no means leaving a stone unturned in that mission for Seychelles.
The idea of ‘Greatest Saved Secrets and techniques of the Seven Seas’ as a advertising and marketing pitch of the 80s was a factor of the previous for Seychelles when the brand new Crew heading Tourism with St.Ange guided the Seychelles Tourism to take the visibility of Seychelles to new heights. Earlier than the period of Alain St.Ange, Seychelles was not even rated within the hit-parade of World Tourism analysed and issued within the World Financial Discussion board’s Journey and Tourism Competitiveness Index. Out of the blue, it was below the management of Alain St.Ange that recognition was in all places, and Tourism Competitiveness Index awarded of their 2013 Sub-Saharan Africa Desk 7 displaying the outcomes for the sub-Saharan area with Seychelles getting into the rankings for the primary time on the prime of the area, and thirty eighth general.
In 2013 when this information broke, World Tourism Leaders have been gathered in Switzerland for the World Financial Discussion board. The information that The Journey & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 had ranked Seychelles Quantity One in African Journey and Tourism Competitiveness and Quantity 38 on this planet stunned the world of tourism. This report assesses 140 economies worldwide below the theme “Decreasing Boundaries to Financial Progress and Job Creation”. The evaluation is on the extent to which these economies are putting in the elements and insurance policies to make it enticing to develop the journey and tourism sector.
The World Financial Discussion board’s Journey and Tourism Competitiveness Index wrote: “The Sub-Saharan Africa Desk 7 reveals the outcomes for the sub-Saharan area which sees Seychelles getting into the rankings for the primary time on the prime of the area, and thirty eighth general. The significance of Journey & Tourism for the nation’s economic system is mirrored in its prime rating for the prioritization of the business, with the 2nd highest T & T expenditure – to – GDP ratio on this planet and efficient advertising and marketing and branding campaigns. These efforts are bolstered by a robust nationwide affinity for Journey & Tourism (fifth); good tourism infrastructure, particularly by way of obtainable resort rooms (sixth); and good floor and air transport infrastructures, notably by regional requirements (thirty first and twenty seventh, respectively). These constructive attributes considerably make up for its relative lack of value competitiveness (one hundred and twentieth). Though the pure setting is now assessed as being in good situation, efforts to develop the business in a sustainable approach might be bolstered, for instance by growing marine and terrestrial safety, which might assist to guard the numerous threatened species within the nation (132nd).
The close by island of Mauritius misplaced its primary spot within the regional rankings, overtaken by the entry of the Seychelles that yr, and was now ranked 58th general.
That was a large present of recognition for Alain St.Ange and his Crew in Seychelles. From Seychelles, it was revealed that the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF), via Mrs Carol Baker, the Head of its Mission had hailed Seychelles as ‘outperforming’ many comparable island locations with year-to-date customer arrival figures indicating a rise of over 20% for the primary two months of 2013. In 2012 Seychelles noticed a rise of seven% in customer arrival numbers when the figures in Mauritius stagnated”. (Information studies – March 11, 2013).
In April 2013 the OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) Operations contacted St.Ange to incorporate Seychelles of their examination paper. Mrs Simone van der Velden-Wouters, the Copyright Administrator Cambridge Evaluation for OCR introduced that the Seychelles Tourism Board brand and textual content taken have been to look in a forthcoming examination. Seychelles was seeing their efforts recognised at that degree internationally. Their AS GCE APPLIED TRAVEL AND TOURISM Examination paper G723/01 Worldwide Journey of twenty-two Might 2012 was on Seychelles as a Tourism Vacation spot. This was an achievement that was hardly ever seen.
The 2015 Journey and Tourism Competitiveness Index once more gave Seychelles credit score for its work in tourism. After the large positive factors publicised within the 2013 report, it was rewarding for Seychelles to learn their 2015 report. Being advised you’re doing nicely is one factor, however when Worldwide Our bodies who look and assess one’s efficiency utilizing different nations from the Neighborhood of Nations as Benchmark are saying it’s a job nicely performed that may be a pat on the again for the Tourism Crew of the islands. The assertion by Alain St.Ange issued after the report was made public mentioned all of it. “This report clearly reveals the underlying energy of Seychelles’ tourism and the truth that, regardless of our small measurement and that of our tourism price range, we proceed to punch approach above our weight…” St.Ange wrote.
Within the printed World Financial Discussion board’s Journey & Tourism (T&T) Competitiveness Report for 2015, Seychelles scored extremely throughout a spread of indices to win second place within the Japanese and Southern Africa class behind solely the acknowledged powerhouse of the continent, South Africa. The benchmarks employed within the report included prioritization of T&T, worldwide openness, value competitiveness, environmental sustainability, air transport infrastructure, floor and port infrastructures, vacationer service infrastructure, pure sources and cultural sources, and enterprise journey. In the identical report, high-scoring Seychelles gained 2nd place, discovering itself above third positioned Mauritius, fifth positioned Kenya, seventh positioned Tanzania, and ninth positioned Zambia out of a complete of 18 nations.
However it stays to be mentioned that one of many greatest coups by Alain St.Ange was his skill to begin a ‘carnival of carnivals’ in one of many smallest capitals of the world and in so doing appeal to one of many largest press contingents following a world occasion. Sir James Mancham, the founding President of Seychelles is remembered to have written his month-to-month journal VIOAS the deserves of the annual Carnaval Worldwide de Victoria. Mancham mentioned: – “In opposition to this backdrop of multuralism, range and the approaching collectively of peoples, it’s becoming that Seychelles needs to be, as soon as once more, the point of interest of an annual ‘Carnaval des Carnavals’ – bringing representatives from the world’s carnivals to the islands to take part in three days of celebration… President Michel’s determination to present Alain St.Ange the go-ahead with Victoria Carnaval 2011, actually replicate modifications of views and a sure want from each President Michel and St.Ange to go down in Seychelles historical past as males of ‘grandeur d’esprit’.”
The 2011 Seychelles Carnaval Worldwide De Victoria was the primary version of a cultural occasion staged for 2 essential causes. The primary was to extend visibility for the islands and in doing so to maintain consolidating its tourism business as a result of it was identified that visibility remained key to success for tourism locations. Secondly, it was to stage an occasion for the hard-working folks of Seychelles who needed to get a ‘thanks’ from their authorities. It was some 40 years earlier than this 2011 occasion that Seychelles staged its first-ever carnival. That was in 1972 when the Chief Minister of the islands, James R. M. Mancham needed to get Seychelles on the tourism map after the Seychelles Worldwide Airport had been opened. A second carnival was staged in 1976 when the islands obtained their Independence from Nice Britain.
Taking the Seychelles into the world of carnivals has been a daring transfer, however pitching it as the one ‘Carnival of Carnivals’ was an instantaneous success because the world’s finest and better-known carnivals all descended on Seychelles to march facet by facet with one another adopted by cultural and folkloric teams from the Neighborhood of Nations popping out to showcase their very personal uniqueness, achievements and folks alongside the perfect carnival parades of the world. From Brazil, Notting Hill of the UK, the Dusseldorf & Koln Carnivals of Germany, Trinidad & Tobago, Italy and France Carnivals to delegations from Mauritius, La Reunion, Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Cote D’Ivoire, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sweden, USA, Russia, China, India amongst so many others.
Alain St.Ange and Seychelles had achieved to stage an occasion that went past politics the place folks from any and each nation have been handled with the respect they deserved and will stroll freely within the security supplied by the World’s Smallest Capital in an occasion coined the United Nations of Tradition parade.
Alain St.Ange has been recognised by so many nations the place he was adorned with their nationwide awards. Organisations proceed to ask him to take a seat on their Board of Administrators in order that they’ll profit from his years of expertise. He’s recognised as an excellent speaker on the world community the place he’s invited and excursions the world to deal with tourism, aviation, and sustainable tourism amongst others. He is also now consistently invited as a visitor speaker & lecturer on cruise ships.
Africa may be proud to have one among their very own recognised proper the world over. Alain St.Ange was an elected Member of the Seychelles Legislature in 1979 and once more in 2002, was appointed Minister of Tourism & Tradition in 2012 and reappointed to steer the identical Ministry in 2015. It was in 2016 that Alain St.Ange noticed his portfolio prolonged when he was named Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine by President Danny Faure. Alain St.Ange was one of many three Candidates vying to be the President of Seychelles of their 2020 elections. After his Ministerial posting, Alain St.Ange was additionally a candidate for the publish of the Secretary Common for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
Alain St.Ange is rarely one to take a seat idle and continues to work as a Tourism Marketing consultant.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Community; his duties embrace enterprise growth and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term alternatives.
