Korean show brings variety to Creole Festival |03 November 2010

The event, held before a full house at the Ephelia Constance resort, was organised by Seychelles’ honorary consul Dong Chang Jeong and the Seychelles Tourism Board’s (STB) representative in Seoul, South Korea.

This Korean Five Colours spectacle was based on a collection by well-known designer Kim Hye-Soon, which was presented to Seychelles on the last evening of the festival.

The Seychelles government was represented by Designated Minister Vincent Meriton, Minister for Social Development and Culture Bernard Shamlaye, Minister for Investment, Natural Resources and Industry Peter Sinon, and various principal secretaries and director-generals.
 
The evening was officially opened by Mr Dong, who stressed that the Korean addition to this year’s Creole Festival resulted from a visit to Korea by President James Michel, and the cooperation between Seoul and Victoria has been growing stronger since that time. 

The marketing and sales effort by the Seychelles Tourist Office in Korea is now being coordinated by Myrna Michel, the tourism director for Asia and Australia, from her new base in Singapore.

Visitor arrival numbers from Korea are showing positive growth, with many people expected to travel to Seychelles for this year’s Eco Healing Marathon, also a project organised by Mr Dong.

STB chief executive Alain St Ange congratulated Mr Dong and his assistant Julie Kim when he addressed those who had booked tables for the Korean evening. He said this special event was a result of the new cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the STB.

“We are but a small country, and it is only by joining forces that we will maximise our resources and have a better synergy for the benefit of our country,” he said.

The STB has been working since early this year with trade attachés, under the embassies of Seychelles, and this has helped bring the country’s main industry to the fore, he added.

Mr St Ange also thanked companies that supported the Korean evening, saying they were taking part because they wanted to be involved in growing that market.

“Tonight we have launched another step in our push for a cultural tourism platform,” he said. Seeing Seychellois beauties dressed in traditional Korean fashions, with special Korean-influenced make-up, was a clear example of our ability to accommodate the needs of other cultures, he added.

This ability comes because the Seychellois people are a melting pot of cultures, a result of the diversity in the make-up of the population of the Creole islands.

Mr Shamlaye congratulated the organisers of the successful show, saying the elegance of the evening and the professional display put on by the Seychellois models did the 2010 Creole Festival proud.