Seychelles carnival gets final touches for April 25 Opening Ceremony

The annual “carnival of carnivals” that is staged in the Seychelles is seeing final touches put together for the official Opening Ceremony that takes place in Victoria, the capital of the Seychell

The annual “carnival of carnivals” that is staged in the Seychelles is seeing final touches put together for the official Opening Ceremony that takes place in Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles, on April 25.

It has been confirmed that for this 2014 edition of the Carnival International de Victoria, the three main co-hosts (Seychelles, La Reunion, and South Africa KwaZulu Natal) will all have an MC on stage who will also ensure that the island’s three official languages are used simultaneously. Michelle Marengo, singer and artist in her own right, will be the Seychelles personality addressing the event in Creole. South Africa will have, we are told, a TV personality and film star who will be traveling to Seychelles and will be the MC addressing the event in the English language, and the Vanilla Island of La Reunion will be represented by someone who will be addressing the Opening Ceremony in the French language.

“We are a multi-ethnic country with three official languages. We need to ensure this is reflected in our national events. The different delegations also flying to Seychelles will all benefit from the approach of having our official Opening Ceremony managed in the three languages – Creole, English, and French,” said Minister Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture.

It is expected that the nominated delegates from South Africa who will be on stage addressing in the English language and the designated from La Reunion who will be addressing in the French language will all be made public by next week.

This carnival remains unique in many ways. The best and most popular carnivals of the world come together in Seychelles and all parade side by side followed by cultural troupes from the Community of Nations. Today the Carnaval International de Victoria is known by the international media Hhouses as the “carnival of carnivals” because of the togetherness by all carnivals coming together once a year for this event in Seychelles.

Many tourism destinations also use this carnival for promoting their own tourism industry. “It is like a tourism trade fair, but here it is the country’s culture and in so doing the people of the respective countries who are being put forward instead of brochures and cocktails,” said Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture. It is today accepted that participating countries at the carnival in the Seychelles have more access to international press than they can ever have at any tourism trade fair.

“Every country participates at tourism trade fairs as a PR exercise and to try to raise the visibility of their destination. The carnival in Seychelles offers to participating tourism destinations exactly this opportunity and even more. The large bank of international press present to cover the unique ‘carnival of carnivals’ event can be approached to report on the destination through their culture and better still through the people of the different countries. Distributing colorful brochures is one thing, but putting feeling in marketing of the destination by showcasing the people and culture of the country goes much further than any cocktail or brochure handout events,” said Minister St.Ange.

The Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture invited countries to join the carnival in Seychelles and to fly their flag as they mark their presence in front of the international press who will be in Seychelles for the 2014 edition of the “carnival of carnivals.”

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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