Seychelles wins Italian Green Travel Award 2022 |13 April 2022
Seychelles has won the GIST Green Travel Award for its excellence in Sustainable and Responsible Tourism in the Trade and Consumer Fair BIT 2022 held Monday, April 11, 2022, in Milan.
Organised by one of the top Italian tourism press groups, the award recognises the destination’s efforts in conserving its natural beauty and sustainability.
GIST awarded Seychelles for the 5 pillars related to sustainability, namely, reduce, reuse, recycle; protect wildlife (both flora and fauna); reduce water consumption; energy conservation; local care and fair trade.
This year’s coveted prize was awarded to the Seychelles under the ‘Honourable Mention Decade of the Sea’ category. The Decade of Marine Sciences for Sustainable Development was established by the United Nations from 2021 to 2030 and promoted by IOC-Unesco to mobilise the scientific community, governments, the private sector, and civil society around a common agenda of research and technological innovation.
Commenting on the award, marketing representative of Tourism Seychelles in Italy, Danielle Di Gianvito, stated: “We are honoured to receive this coveted award and proud to see that all the efforts and practices implemented in Seychelles are appreciated and recognised as an ongoing commitment to safeguard the environment from all over the world.”
Seychelles has made a name for itself as it continuously works towards conserving its fragile and unique ecosystem and its culture, through the Seychelles Sustainable Development Strategy. This eco-sustainable development policy preserves biodiversity and paired with a controlled tourism to avoid negative impacts on the ecosystem, avoiding overcrowding and prohibiting the construction of new hotels beyond those approved.
Through the practices adopted in this corner of paradise, Seychelles is one of the 25 biodiversity hotspots around the world: 43% of its territory is a nature reserve or national park, a presence of diverse and unique flora and fauna including approximately 1000 endemic species, 2 Unesco sites and a wide choice of eco-tourism activities such as bird watching, diving, snorkelling, and trekking.
Seychelles recently announced a ban on the collection of sooty tern eggs, one of the measures implemented by the Ministry of Environment to ensure that the Seychelles' sea tern population recovers.
The Creole nation has also seen recent victory in safeguarding the traditional dance ‘moutya’ through its recognition as Cultural Heritage by Unesco.
Moreover, Seychelles was the first country in the world to include the principle of environmental conservation in its Constitution. The local government recognises the local communities’ dependence on persistently healthy and prosperous ecosystems, and sustainable tourism development which contribute to this.
The director-general for destination marketing at Tourism Seychelles, Bernadette Willemin, said that the GIST Green Travel Award comes as an encouragement for the active partners to keep their commitment towards the conservation of our beautiful islands.
“We are proud to see that once more Seychelles is recognised for its work in sustainability. As a destination we will keep on encouraging responsible tourism while keeping our persistent efforts towards preserving our islands in a pristine state,” said Mrs Willemin.
Now in this tenth edition, the Awards aim to reward all those in the world of tourism who have committed themselves to providing services and promoted sustainable and responsible tourism.
The other categories in competition were: Best Green Accommodation Italy, Best Green Accommodation Abroad, Best Green Family Eco-Hotel, Best Bio Spa, Best Green Tour Operator and Tourism Associations.
All judgments take into consideration the guidelines of the ‘European Charter for Sustainable and Responsible Tourism’.
Press release from Tourism Seychelles