St Ange Goes to Guam USA!

KUAM News caught-up the minister of tourism for the smallest independent African state - the Seychelle Islands - who presented at the Pacific Asia Travel Association Summit today.  It's an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, known to have the smallest population of all independent African states.

But although the Seychelle Islands may be small, its tourism industry is robust. Minister of tourism and culture Alain St. Ange, spoke before the PATA Summit on Thursday. "This morning I was asked to speak a bit about where tourism moves, and how do you get the maximum from the discerning traveler of today, how do you entice them to visit you?" he summarized.

He said for island nations, selling sun, sand and sea isn't enough, adding, "They need to meet us, the islanders, they need to meet the people of the island, and the only way to do that is to have cultural events. Cultural events where interaction between visitors and the locals take place, and that gives them the bond with our people."

He said connecting travelers to the people and culture is what has made the Seychelles a famous tourist destination. "So we went into the world of events to put our culture at the forefront, and when we are putting culture, we are putting our people at the forefront of marketing the Seychelles. Our tourism industry works, and works well," he explained.

As part of this move, the Seychelles now hosts the only carnival in the world that brings together seven nations such as Italy, Brazil, and Indonesia, to name a few. Like Guam, tourism is the Seychelles' number one industry. While most of its visitors are from Europe, the nation has been trying to diversify, much like Guam has.

"I realized Guam has a lot of attributes to itself, attributes that like us, we can showcase to the world together if we work a bit more in harmony between Guam and the Republic of Seychelles," said St. Ange.

The PATA annual summit brings together stakeholders like St. Ange to talk about similar goals and challenges faced by members, and ways to work together to move forward. The summit ends this Saturday.