ICTP meets on the sidelines of ITB in Berlin

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Written by Alain St.Ange

Three of the four founding members of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) – Juergen Steinmetz, Alain St.Ange, and Geoffey Lipman – met as they were together at ITB 2019 in Berlin.

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany, beginning as a travel agent up through today as publisher of eTurboNews (eTN), one of the worldโ€™s most influential and most-read travel and tourism publications. He is also Chairman of ICTP.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman is the President of ICTP & Founder of Greenearth.travel. He is also the former Assistant Secretary General of UNWTO and first president of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Professor Geoffrey Lipman is presently the Director of greenearth.travel, a global think tank network promoting green growth and travelism โ€“ strategy, innovation and funding. He is President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) and Associate of Cosmos China.

Alain St.Ange is the Vice President of ICTP and the former Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine of the Seychelles. He was formally the Seychelles Peopleโ€™s Progressive Front (SPPF) directly elected Member of the Peopleโ€™s Assembly for the La Digue Constituency (1979) and the Seychelles National Party (SNP) directly elected Member of the National Assembly for the Bel Air Constituency (2002). In 2009, he was appointed as the Director of Marketing for Seychelles, and in 2010, promoted to the position of CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board. St.Ange was elected the first President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands Regional Organization in 2012. This organization comprises the islands of La Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Mayotte, and Seychelles.

The three ICTP founders discussed many new areas of cooperation ahead of World Travel Market (WTM) Africa where they will be meeting and announcing many new avenues that are set to help tourism as the vital industry for Africa.

โ€œFor the past 5 years, ICTP has acted as a commentator on these kinds of developments with a central focus on advancing Green Growth and Quality. Created and financially supported by a small group of involved industry, media, and government friends, it has tried to be a consistent and coherent sounding board targeting destinations and their stakeholders. Thanks to the broad reach of eTurboNews and our established network contacts, we believe our views have been aired and understood. The reality is, however, the mainstream Travel and Tourism systems have been unaffectedโ€ฆ Growth is still king. Numbers are used to support this โ€“ highlighting the very real benefits in wealth, jobs, and trade. Operational systems are aligned. Media information is channeled.

โ€œBut on the other side of the balance sheet, action has been marginal โ€“ impacts are at best acknowledged but scarcely responded to โ€“ whether itโ€™s inadequate security, outdated entry processes, mounting taxes, and certainly there has not been any transformational environmental shifts. We have had the summits that produced the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals โ€“ a massively complex heroic roadmap for everything, with hundreds of targets and indicators โ€“ plus the 2050 Paris Climate Agreement, which is a fundamentally important lowest common denominator for existential no carbon energy shift.

โ€œNew initiatives include a Bloomberg-led coalition of 7,000 cities to respond to Climate Change, a World Bank-led Low Carbon Financing Drive, and the World Economic Forumโ€™s โ€œ4th Industrial Revolution.โ€ We have started an International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development โ€“ which will focus attention on our sector, in ways that have never been seen before. Our leadership organizations UNWTO, WTTC, and IATA as well as the activities they support are preparing for these developments with an extensive list of programs and events โ€“ and if the views of those supporting genuinely transformative Sustainability and Green Growth are to be heard so must weโ€ฆat the global and local levels,” said the Founding Members of ICTP.

ICTP will become a genuine partnership coalition, reaching out to other groups who believe in its Green Growth and Quality vision for the Travel and Tourism sector, engaging them to advance basic shared principles, encouraging them to participate in industry events set up to advance sustainable tourism in a coherent way, and most importantly providing them with the established information channels of eTN to air their views freely.

About the author

Avatar of Alain St.Ange

Alain St.Ange

Alain St Ange has been working in the tourism business since 2009. He was appointed as the Director of Marketing for Seychelles by President and Minister of Tourism James Michel.

He was appointed as the Director of Marketing for Seychelles by President and Minister of Tourism James Michel. After one year of

After one year of service, he was promoted to the position of CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board.

In 2012 the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands regional Organization was formed and St Ange was appointed as the first president of the organization.

In a 2012 cabinet re-shuffle, St Ange was appointed as Minister of Tourism and Culture which he resigned on 28 December 2016 in order to pursue a candidacy as Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation.

At the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu in China, a person who was being sought after for the โ€œSpeakers Circuitโ€ for tourism and sustainable development was Alain St.Ange.

St.Ange is the former Seychelles Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine who left office in December last year to run for the position of Secretary General of the UNWTO. When his candidature or document of endorsement was withdrawn by his country just a day before the elections in Madrid, Alain St.Ange showed his greatness as a speaker when he addressed the UNWTO gathering with grace, passion, and style.

His moving speech was recorded as the one on the best marking speeches at this UN international body.

African countries often remember his Uganda address for the East Africa Tourism Platform when he was a guest of honor.

As former Tourism Minister, St.Ange was a regular and popular speaker and was often seen addressing forums and conferences on behalf of his country. His ability to speak โ€˜off the cuffโ€™ was always seen as a rare ability. He often said he speaks from the heart.

In Seychelles he is remembered for a marking address at the official opening of the islandโ€™s Carnaval International de Victoria when he reiterated the words of John Lennon famous songโ€ฆ โ€ you may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. One day you will all join us and the world will be better as oneโ€. The world press contingent gathered in Seychelles on the day ran with the words by St.Ange which made headlines everywhere.

St.Ange delivered the keynote address for the โ€œTourism & Business Conference in Canadaโ€

Seychelles is a good example for sustainable tourism. This is therefore not surprising to see Alain St.Ange being sought after as a speaker on the international circuit.

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