Visitors get special treat on World Tourism Day |28 September 2023
By Patrick Joubert
To commemorate World Tourism Day yesterday, the Tourism department organised a special welcome for visitors arriving on the different flights at the Seychelles International Airport.
The first visitors to disembark were passengers from the early morning Emirates’ flight from Dubai and the 239 of them were greeted and presented with a token as souvenir by the principal secretary for Tourism, Sherin Francis and members of staff.
Musicians and dancers from the ‘Lansiv’ group were also present on the ramp to give our visitors a taste of our traditional music and dance.
Among the passengers was the President of the Republic, Wavel Ramkalawan and his delegation from attending the G77 and China Summit in Cuba and the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The special welcome is part of a week of activities for the 6th edition of the Tourism Festival that was launched last Saturday at La Plaine St Andre, Au Cap.
Apart from welcoming visitors on the different flights at the International Airport, the staff from the Tourism department were also present at the Inter Island Quay on Mahé, the Botanical Garden, the Ero Passenger Terminal on Praslin and at the Tourism Office, La Passe, La Digue, to welcome visitors who also had the chance to enjoy our traditional music and dance.
In an interview with the media after disembarking on the plane, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, who accompanied President Ramkalawan on his overseas mission, said, “every year we celebrate our tourism festival and today we wanted to make it a bit special for all of our visitors arriving at the airport. We started this morning and the special welcome will continue with all other flights that will come during the day”.
Minister Radegonde noted that although the overseas mission with President Ramkalawan was strictly focused on foreign affairs, he also, albeit briefly, looked at how tourism related activities took place in the different locations to compare and to take stock of ideas that could help to progress our tourism industry.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the welcome ceremony at the airport yesterday.
Photos by Patrick Joubert
