2014 Carnaval International de Victoria: 60 days to go |24 February 2014

The countdown to this year’s Carnaval International de Victoria has started and a ceremony to officially mark the occasion was held on Friday at La Plaine St Andre.  

The cocktail evening was also marked by the prize giving ceremony for this year’s Carnival song competition in which Travis Julienne emerged as the grand winner. (More details about the winners will be published in a future article).
This year’s Carnaval International de Victoria, now in its fourth year, will take place over three days – from April 25-27.

This prestigious event is a celebration of cultures aimed at all ages, and this year Seychelles has partnered with Reunion, Madagascar, Mayotte and South Africa as our co-hosts.

Natalie Didon, the deputy chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), described the carnival as a ‘fixture’ on the Seychelles calendar of events and announced that aside from the co-hosting countries, the other delegations that have already confirmed their participation this year are the Notting Hill group (see separate story), a group from Dusseldorf (Germany),  Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, followed by a number of cultural groups from many nations.
This festival of colour will thrill the audience with a display of imaginative costumes and interactive shows, with a number of side events by musical groups, street artists and others.  

Alain St Ange, Minister for Tourism and Culture, explained that this iconic celebration would not be possible without sponsors such as Airtel, Air Seychelles, Sepec, Hunt Deltel, Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, among others.
The initiator of this event, Minister St Ange spoke of the importance of all sponsors and pointed out that the biggest expense for this event is to ensure press and media coverage. This year, a total of 135 press members from around the world will be here, from television and radio stations as well as the written press.  
He urged the business community to make of most of this great media opportunity to showcase their firms.

Among the guests at the reception were reigning Miss Seychelles … Another World Agnes Gerry and the 12 contestants for this year’s Miss Seychelles … Another World pageant.

The cocktail evening was also marked by song and dance performances.