Tourism trade attachés will now form part of Seychelles’ overseas mission staff to help promote the country abroad.

This has been made possible by a memorandum of understanding signed yesterday by foreign affairs principal secretary Barry Faure and Seychelles’ tourism marketing director Alain St Ange at the International Conference Centre.

The signing will increase the level of cooperation between the two bodies and shows that the government fully appreciates the importance of tourism for Seychelles.

Mr Faure said the signing has formalised an arrangement that already exists, as there is now an attaché in Seychelles’ embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.

He said this was a pilot project that started in November last year, which has gone very well, and now they want to extend it to other parts of the world where we have diplomatic missions.

“It has enabled us to combine our resources. This practice exists in other parts of the world and now we, too, are becoming more effective in the use of our resources,” he added.

If there are new markets, and the Seychelles Tourism Board feels we should exploit them and place a mission there, we will see how to go about it, Mr Faure said.

He said Seychelles’ ambassador in Beijing is waiting to sign an agreement to launch a tourism office in Shanghai, which has been approved by the STB. An attaché will be appointed on the approval of the Chinese government.

He said honorary consuls in other countries, especially South Korea and Spain, have put a lot of effort into promoting Seychelles as a tourist destination.

Mr St Ange said he welcomes the opportunity to strengthen the partnership between the STB and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Tourism is the pillar of our economy, and one role of our ambassadors is to promote our country and tourism industry,” he said.

He explained that instead of opening a new tourist office where we already have an ambassador, it is better for us to share our resources, which will benefit our country and our people.

Mr St Ange said there are many qualified officials at the tourism board, but it is not easy to get work permits for them overseas.

The signing was carried out at the STB’s annual marketing meeting in the presence of its overseas agents and other staff. Also present was Air Seychelles’ chief executive Captain David Savy.

Source: NATION 1-28-10

Forrás: http://www.seychellesweekly.com/February%201,%202010/p23_tourism_attache.html