Minister Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, joined Mr. Taleb Rifai, the Secretary General of the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) to address the PATWA World Tourism & Aviation Leaders Summit and the PATWA International Seminar on Culture: Vehicle for Tourism on March 5, 2015 at 2:30 pm at A1, CityCube Building at the ITB Tourism Trade Fair in Berlin.
Minister St.Ange of the Seychelles and UNWTO Secretary General Rifai had been personally invited to address PATWA by Mr. Sagar Ahluwalia, the Secretary General of PATWA.
The Minister from Seychelles, who took to the podium in the new CityCube Building at ITB after Mr. Taleb Rifai had delivered his keynote address, started by congratulating the UNWTO and the UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for having organized a tourism through culture conference in Cambodia in February this year. The Seychelles Minister said that culture was indeed the appropriate vehicle for tourism. “When we say culture, we are saying the people of our respective countries,” the Minister said before adding that culture was the only national asset we all have as countries that carries our very own DNA.
“It is now well over five years since President James Michel of the Seychelles said that we had to stop selling Seychelles using only a sun, sea, and sand sales pitch. Even though we know that we have the best in sun, sea, and sand holidays because of our white sandy beaches that are clean, our turquoise blue seas that are clean, warm weather 365 days of the year, and because we are located visually on the equator and so enjoy a climate described as perpetual summer, we moved to make our unique culture the base for our marketing. Through our tourism industry, our culture is protected and through our culture our tourism industry is consolidated,” Minister Alain St.Ange said.
“Because of us placing our culture at the center of our tourism development, we are putting our people at the center of our development, and when our people are involved, we are intact, claiming back our tourism industry and ensuring that it benefits our people and country first. With our people being more and more involved, our tourism industry is being opened for grassroots involvement, and this is why we can today have as an example our District Cultural Awards,” the Seychelles Minister said.
Minister Alain St.Ange went on to say that when people are directly involved, the tourism industry of one’s country can only be better consolidated. “Our people, because of their direct involvement in their country’s tourism industry, defend and protects their industry. They work with us, and they understand us better. We should never be shy or ashamed of our people and of our culture,” the Minister said as he ended his address.
