Tourism Review - ‘2016 tourism arrivals a real success story’ |31 December 2016

END-OF-YEAR  ISSUE

“We started 2016 on a high and today we know that we will finish the year with a 10% increase over last year. So it is a real success story for Seychelles. A success story because we are going against the trend in many other countries where they are either stagnant or even decreasing. The other major success in 2016 was the arrival of extra flights, airlines or planes serving Seychelles. It is a success because a couple of years ago Seychelles suffered when airlines departed.”

These remarks were made by Alain St Ange, the outgoing Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine as he reviewed tourism in Seychelles for the year 2016.

But the minister also acknowledged the challenges facing the trade where he also outlined certain measures to be taken to counter these challenges. Because, he said, when there is an increase in tourism arrival numbers, we need to manage the expectations of our visitors. And when we say Seychelles offers good, homely, quality service and destination, we are delivering for Seychelles. And one of the several projects to be undertaken is the upgrading of hotels so that clients can be informed on the level they are and what type of service is expected of them and of what quality they are before the clients come here. Also tourists must be able to feel they live in security when in Seychelles and that the safety label of Seychelles remains the key cards of marketing of this country.

He remarked 2016 started off after a good, successful 2015 where the country finished the year with a Plus 19 increase in visitor arrivals. He said that number was a springboard for 2016 when they knew they had to consolidate what had been done last year and work to increase the figures while also trying to convince the trade itself and the private sector trade.

“It is not just hotels – it’s the whole country that makes tourism so that together we can increase the yield. Both the ministry and the Seychelles Tourism Board  (STB) knew they had to work with Seychelles to increase the yield that we make from our tourism industry,” he said.

But Minister St Ange is optimistic.

Connected to the world

“Today we can happily say as a country, sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean, that we are connected to the world with one-stop to anywhere which have been possible through our enticing both new airlines and companies to come to Seychelles,” he said, citing Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines and an extra Condor flight as examples. Adding to that, he said what is more positive is that they all want to increase their number of flights to Seychelles.

“This shows that Seychelles is today visible as never before. This visibility makes us relevant in the world of tourism,” he said.

Minister St Ange also described the importance of diversifying our tourism source market which he said has worked for the country. If certain ills or malaise occur in Europe, our main tourism source destination, we can rely on other markets.

Challenges and solutions

Regarding the grading system, Minister St Ange said we cannot anymore accept that people can charge what they want and lie on what they are as this gives Seychelles a bad name.

He added the next big challenge is that the country needs to raise its security which he said is an issue which has been put to the attention of cabinet and the tourism sectorial meetings.

“Seychelles cannot continue to have thefts on tourists, assaults on tourists, breaking of cars that are rented to tourists. What is good for tourists is good for Seychellois. We must be able to feel we live in security when we are in Seychelles. The safety label of Seychelles remains one of the key cards of marketing of this country,” he said. As tourism is the pillar of the economy, we need to work at it, nurture it and save it, Mr St Ange said.

Assaults on tourists

As for the assaults on tourists, Mr St Ange said he has asked both the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and that of Home Affairs whenever a tourist is touched or admitted to hospital or of any other emergency, the Department of Tourism must be informed immediately so that the department can mitigate the effect of that assault. He said this is now being done.

Mr St Ange also warned against negativity published on social media which also hurts the industry.

“If a tourist has been hit for example at Pointe au Sel, you plaster it on social media, you make all sorts of accusations against it, you are helping or deciding for the trade, the tour operators will stop sending people to Seychelles. It affects the business community. When it affects the business community it affects each worker; each Seychellois worker in the Seychelles will start losing their job,” he remarked.

Cost of Seychelles

The cost of Seychelles is another challenge Mr St Ange talked about which he said is an approach to be taken by both government and the private sector together. He said we need to ensure we keep looking at the operating cost in Seychelles as we do not compete between hotels here but against the region, the mainland and other countries that are also competing in the trade. He urged the private sector to be more realistic about prices.

“To benefit we must also look at turnover but not just kill the one goose that lays the golden egg,” he advised.

Regarding the yield gained from the tourism industry, Mr St Ange said it must be seen and should not remain just numbers so that Seychellois see themselves benefitting from it.

On diversifying tourists to the Seychelles, Minister St Ange said it has worked for us as we cannot lay all our eggs into one basket.

Private sector must offer more

We will begin 2017 with the challenge that the private sector must unite in the concept that they must offer more, new diversity of products, new attractions, new facilities for the tourists to be able to spend money on,” he said.

Regarding the national events that STB will no longer organise next year, Minister St Ange said it had two main missions for Seychelles – increase visibility for Seychelles and also provide entertainment for Seychellois. Also it brought the most number of press to the country at one given time. He said though CINEA will take over the organization of these events, the marketing side of them will remain with STB.

On conclusion, Minister Alain St Ange had this to say:

“It is a together approach that delivers for Seychelles. We are optimistic to have another good year next year but for us to keep on having it we need to tell Seychelles tourism is not just about another hotel or airline. Tourism is Seychelles. The product is Seychelles. It is only by working together all of us that we will have this.”

Tourist arrivals in 2016 has been a success story

Marylene Julie