Tourism minister puts Seychelles in the spotlight in India |11 June 2016

“Seychelles has nothing to hide and we continue to meet the press at every given opportunity,” said Alain St Ange, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, as he met the press in India this week.

The Seychelles minister, who was on a working visit primarily to increase the visibility of his tourism paradise islands, was accompanied on this Seychelles Promotional Roadshow by Sherin Naiken, the chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) and Amia Javanovic-Desir, a senior marketing staff at the STB, Sunil Mathapati and Aswini Krishna of the STB's India office. The honorary consul of Seychelles in Chennai, M. S. Sai, also joined the delegation in Chennai.

Also accompanying Minister St Ange on this working trip to India was a delegation from the business trading community including Ramu Pillay, Kannan Pillay, Shanmugam Pillay, Durai Pillay, Nadesh Pillay and Palani Basha.

The Seychelles minister gave many press interviews during this latest working visit to India and met several influential figures which attracted an army of national and local press every time.

Accompanied by Sherin Naiken he was live on the popular Radio City in Chennai and did one to one press interviews with The Hindu and also Deccan Chronicle newspapers as well as the Voyager's World, the travel and tourism monthly magazine of India. The largest concentration of television, radio and written press who even blocked the road to interview Minister St Ange was after his meeting with the highly respected political icon of the State of Tamil Nadu, Muthuvelan Karunanidhi last Wednesday.

“I was overwhelmed by the media interest following that meeting and amazed by the large numbers who had gathered outside the offices of Mr Muthuvelan Karunanidhi. But it was also a perfect opportunity to talk about the Seychelles, our mission for this trip and our invitation for the Indian holiday makers to discover the Seychelles as the new holiday destination now on offer to them,” said Minister St Ange. 

A throng of journalists interviewing Minister St Ange

Successful tourism promotional roadshows were organised in Chennai and in Bangalore on Wednesday June 8 where the following members of the Seychelles tourism trade and airlines were on hand to meet the travel trade of Chennai: Air Seychelles, Ethiopian Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Holidays Box, Kempinski Seychelles Resort, Eden Island Development Company, Constance Ephelia Resort, Sainte Anne Resort & Spa, Banyan Tree Seychelles, Le Relax Hotels - Seychelles, Enchanted Island Resort and Savoy Resort & Spa Seychelles. Two Indian travel companies — Holidays Box and Akquasun Group —also joined in for the roadshow. Both Minister St Ange and Ms Naiken addressed the launch of the promotional roadshow in both cities before Aswini Krishna of the STB’s India office did her destination presentation. The travel trade found the event very productive and said that it will help boost Seychelles’ visibility in India.