He was speaking during an exclusive interview with Seychelles Nation, covering a wide range of important issues, ahead of National Day on Friday.

Mr Michel also explained why he has taken on the portfolio for tourism as part of the recent Cabinet changes.

“Tourism is the mainstay of our economy and we have developed an industry that today is bringing us many benefits.

 Tourism is very fragile, and we have to ensure that we build our tourism industry in such a way that we can sustain its development,” he said.
 
“I have taken on this responsibility because I feel I have managed today to bring Seychelles into the limelight of the international community. I think now it is important in my position that I also take tourism a stage further.
 
“We have an established market today in Europe, but we must not concentrate only on one market because anything can happen and then you have the collapse of your industry.”

Mr Michel said recent events had highlighted the dangers for the tourism industry. The global financial crisis badly affected Europe last year, and more recently volcanic eruptions in Iceland paralysed most of Europe’s air traffic and had an impact on visitor arrivals in Seychelles.
 
“I think the time has come for Seychelles to open itself up more and diversify our industry,” said Mr Michel.

“There are other economic powerhouses mushrooming around the world, and there is a need for us to look at these countries and see how we can develop tourism promotion there so we diversify our markets.

“We have, for example, China, India, Korea and South Africa where we can develop very important tourism markets so we do not depend entirely on one continent or a few countries.”

This is just one of the subjects covered in the interview with President Michel, which will be published in full in tomorrow’s issue.