CARNIVAL COMMISSION
Seychelles
de Janeiro, but there’s now another vying for visitors’ attention after just two years of existence. The Carnaval International de Victoria
T
was the brainchild of Alain St Ange, formerly CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board but now promoted to Minister of Tourism and Culture. In just a couple of years the Carnaval
has grown hugely and this year had the close involvement of fellow Indian Ocean island La Reunion, as well as more than 30 floats from overseas participants and 40 local floats. But for Alain St Ange this is just the
start and he expects the Carnaval to go from strength to strength, not least through the participation of other Indian Ocean islands. “I want Carnaval to be a platform for
people to come and showcase their own people and culture. This will attract more visitors and helps to build bonds to bring people together, a personalised tourism. “We’re looking to make it an Indian Ocean Carnaval and need to break the mould that we’re competing; we need to co-operate and want Madagascar, Mauritius and East Africa to feel that they also own the Carnaval. Seychelles has simply launched a golden opportunity to promote it. The Vanilla Islands concept is a good one but it’s not easy to bring six governments together.” The Carnaval (March 2-4) coincided
with the arrival in Seychelles of the Costa Allegra which Alain St Ange sees as another positive for Seychelles. “As a country we managed it well and worked hard to facilitate arrangements. We were the first to reach the ship and provided food and water.”
Clockwise from top: the Carnaval comes to town: Miss Reunion (left) and a Miss Seychelles contestant; the beach at Kempinski Seychelles
68 April 2012 •
www.sellinglonghaul.com
hink of carnivals and most thoughts turn to Notting Hill or, perhaps more exotically, Rio
Seychelles’ annual carnival is ready to become a signifi cant tourist attraction and showcase for the whole Indian Ocean, says Alan Orbell
All of the ship’s passengers were
invited to spend a week on holiday in the Seychelles and some 356 of them (around half) took up the offer. All of this came on the back of a
three- to four per cent increase in visitor numbers last year, much of it from Asia, but Alain St Ange acknowledges the need to recapture the islands’ core market following the withdrawal of Air Seychelles from all European routes. “We need to diversify and go back to
the UK, France and Germany. For many years we’ve talked about five-star Seychelles but we need to get across the affordable Seychelles message to break the idea that Seychelles is only for the rich and famous. You can find accommodation for €70/80 per night. We have a range of property that’s available for the world. “We also need to strongly highlight accessible Seychelles as we now have more airlines than ever before.” These are fronted by Emirates which currently has 12 flights a week
between Dubai and Seychelles, fed by the airline’s 105 weekly flights from six airports in the UK - Heathrow (five daily), Gatwick (three daily), Birmingham (twice daily), Manchester (three daily), Newcastle (daily) and Glasgow (twice daily from June 1, 2012). Etihad – now code sharing with Air
Seychelles – operates flights from Abu Dhabi to Seychelles on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays while Qatar Airways flies to the Seychelles daily from Doha. Qatar Airways was due to launch a
fifth daily flight to Doha from London Heathrow on March 25, taking the total weekly frequency on the route to 35 services each week. From the same date
the Manchester to Doha route will be reduced to 10 flights each week. Other new developments include the
recent opening of the five-star Kempinski in the old Plantation Club resort (see page 35); the completion of an extensive refurbishment at the boutique island resort of Cerf Island; and the world’s smallest Hilton, the Northholme, is adding 20 new rooms. Next year’s Carnaval International de Victoria will be held over February 8-10, 2013.
www.seychelles.com
Sell more Seychelles
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76