Seychelles Tourism Festival is back!

Rethinking Tourism and celebrating our culture is the theme chosen to celebrate the 5th edition of the annual Tourism Festival. The activities that have been selected to commemorate this year’s Tourism Festival are to be observed for one week on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue from September 24, 2022, to October 1, 2022.

To kick start the upcoming week-long celebration, the Tourism Department held a press conference on Thursday, 8th September, at the Botanical House, where the Tourism Principal Secretary, Mrs. Sherin Francis, and the committee members shared the calendar of events.

For the first time, the official ceremony to launch the Tourism Festival will be held on La Digue on Saturday, September 24, with an event called Le Rendez-Vous Diguois at L’Union Estate. Members of the public can enjoy a day full of events such as a fair, moutya, local entertainment and a “Bal Kreole.”

The Tourism Festival calendar of activities will entail the grand opening of the Biodiversity Café at the Barbarons Biodiversity Centre on the morning of September 26. The public can enjoy a garden tour along with the sale of various medicinal plants.

Various activities will be organized to commemorate World Tourism Day, celebrated on September 27, beginning with a tourism message by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Mr. Sylvestre Radegonde, broadcasted on National Television.

The traditional Meet and Greet, which is usually done at the airport, will this year be held on Mahé at the Botanical Garden with tea infusions, snacks and entertainment by the Reviv Band. On Praslin, visitors can enjoy tea infusions, snacks and a traditional Kanmtole Dance Show by Tropical Stars Band for entertainment at La Pirogue Restaurant. Similarly, on La Digue, there will be tea infusions and snacks with a traditional Mardilo Dance performance by Masezarin Group at the Grann Kaz, L’Union Estate, all under the theme “Dégustation Infusion Créole” to mark World Tourism Day.

As part of World Tourism Day, the unveiling of Tourism Pioneers ceremony will be held at the Seychelles Tourism Academy to honor and recognize notable tourism personnel in the country.

The Tourism Department will also host various internal cultural activities to involve the tourism staff in the festivities.

As part of the Tourism week, there will also be an Inter-faith special mass guided by the Seychelles Inter-Faith Council (SIFCO), which will be held at the Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education (SITE), open to the public.

The French public speaking competition for schools is also back on the calendar of events this year for 28th September, being held at the SITE auditorium; this event is by invitation only. 

New on the calendar will be the Petit Chef activity, which is being organized by the Seychelles Tourism Academy. Other activities on the calendar include the Tourism Club Careers fair, which will be held in partnership with UniSey at the Anse Royale Unisey campus on September 29. The Tourism Department will launch the New Immersive Community Experiences at the Botanical House and the Tourism Club quiz prize-giving ceremony on September 30.

Throughout the week, the Seychelles Island’s official YouTube Channel will publish “Kids Interview Tourism personalities” videos at 8 pm.

The week will round off with the anticipated Lospitalite award ceremony, which will be done through a gala dinner at Kempinski hotel for invitees only. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Tourism Seychelles, [email protected]