New level of dialogue on what we call cultural tourism

Seychelles seems to have coined something interesting and innovative.

Seychelles seems to have coined something interesting and innovative. “We have now reached a new level of dialogue on what we call cultural tourism,” said Seychelles Minister Alain St.Ange, as he commented on a recent conversation between his country and Sweden.

Mrs. Dace Melbarde, the Culture Minister of Latvia, and Mr. Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Culture, made time to meet and open a new level of dialogue between themselves when they were both in UMEA in Sweden for the ceremony marking that city’s new title as the Cultural Capital of Europe.

Ministers Dace Melbarde and Alain St.Ange discussed cooperation in the field of culture and also Latvia’s participating in the coming Indian Ocean Vanilla Island’s Carnival that is set to be held from April 25-27.

“The ball is in our court. We have to follow-up with an official letter of invitation. But a first step has been made,” Seychelles Minister St.Ange said.

The carnival that is staged in Seychelles is very much like a tourism trade fair but with culture and the people of respective countries put forward. Countries spend a fortune to be seen at the traditional tourism trade fairs, but apart from dishing out promotional brochures, their access to more visibility through media is limited. It has been seen ruing the past years that participating countries at the carnival in Seychelles get access to more media than ever possible at any tourism trade fair. Culture is also a novel idea with which to promote the tourism industry of countries.

The Seychelles 2014 edition of the carnival is being co-hosted by the Vanilla Islands of La Reunion, Madagascar, Mayotte, and South Africa KwaZulu Natal tourism bodies.

Seychelles is a founding member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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