Launching of Subios 2005-Our underwater treasures a major asset, says VP |20 May 2005

He said this last night (Thursday ) at the launching of the country's 16th edition of the annual Sub-Indian Ocean Seychelles (Subios) underwater festival .

The launching ceremony was held at the International Conference Centre in the presence of  the President of the Republic, Mr James A. Michel, government ministers and representatives of other organisations involved in the festival.

The opening ceremony was followed by the public voting of this year's underwater photo and video contests produced around the theme "Preserving Underwtaer Homes."

VP Belmont revealed that the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) was already playing an active role in helping to market our underwater treasures internationally. STB is currently participating in the European Underwater Film Festival  being held in Turkey, where VP Belmont said our underwater homes are not only on display, but "we are being given the opportunity to learn from best practices through sharing of valuable information and experiences."

This international exposure, he said, is in line with the declaration made by President Michel at the Conference of Seychelles Honorary Consuls in March,  that there was a need to better equip ourselves to face the challenges of globalisation, in becoming more visible abroad so as to derive maximum benefits from the image of our country. 

"As such the need to widen the scope of Seychelles's leadership in ecotourism, environmental preservation and education matters, was identified as one of the five priority areas of our  foreign policy. This will lend a hand to our tourism marketing initiative," VP Belmont said.

Subios, VP Belmont said, is an annual ecotourism activity that is here to stay.

"After 16 years of service, the time is ripe to reassess the event so as to make it more effective, better targeted and with appropriate incentives to encourage all stakeholders to be more active in the related processes," he said.

Pointing out that the Seychelles Tourism Strategy (SETS 21) recognised the need to preserve our underwater homes, VP Belmont gave his assurance that the government will continue to ensure that the adverse impact of human activities on our coral reefs and marine resources are reduced through the implementation of measures aimed at establishing best practices, sets of standards and related incentives.

"Together let us ensure more responsible yachting, shipping, fishing, sailing and scuba diving and let us also manage our land-based activities and waste systems better," he said.
Compared to the past years when it was held during October, the Subios festival is for the first time taking place in May with the aim of attracting more tourists during the period of low season. VP Belmont said Subios now has a better chance of turning into an internationally recognised event, given that May has other attributes such as good diving conditions and opportunities to offer package deals to attract diving tourists.

Thursrday's opening  ceremony was also marked by the presentation of four awards to winners of last year's photography and video contests. The first prize for the public and jury choice award for edited and unedited video went to Leandro Blanco, while Mr Alan James won the first prize for the photo-shoot out. The jury's award for digital images went to Tony Baskeyfield and Dr Pedro Vieyra clinched the top prize for public choice award for digital images.

This year, although there has been a reduction in the number of foreign participants, there has been a remarkable increase in entries from Seychelles for the photography and video contests.

Members of the public had to choose the best out of 35 digital images, 12 films in the edited video category and three films in the unedited category.

Among activities planned for the weekend is a Subios Splash which will feature music, craft bazaar, boat rides, lucky dip, open-air film shows, school art, creative writing exhibition-cum-competition, swimming competition, among many others.