Seychelles Tourism Principal Secretary takes part in United Nations high-level tourism meeting

The Seychelles Principal Secretary for Tourism, Anne Lafortune, represented the Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, at the 59th meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Commission for Africa (CAF).

During the meeting, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from April 18-21, 2017, the UNWTO Secretary General, Dr. Taleb Rifai, presented to the members a summary of the activities carried out by the organization for the past year.

Members also heard reports of the various UNWTO committees.

An interactive session on the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017 also took place. There were presentations from various experts and interactions from members present.

In the framework of the CAF meeting, a high-level meeting on Chinese Outbound Tourism to Africa was also held.

The main objective of the meeting was to strengthen the understanding of the inter-related dynamics of China’s source market and African destinations and provide guidance for government policy to African member states, Chinese officials, and the private sector.

The meeting was structured into two panel sessions, namely on harnessing Chinese outbound market-opportunities and challenges for sustainable tourism development in Africa and skills development, cooperation, and investment.

Mrs. Lafortune took part in the panel sessions and shared with those present which included many African tourism ministers, the experiences that appeal to Chinese tourists coming to Seychelles.

She also gave details on how Seychelles goes about creating memorable and customized service for Chinese travelers.

Mrs. Lafortune also spoke about the collaboration that Seychelles has with other countries and organizations such as the Vanilla Islands, East3Routes, and Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA) to market the region and offer more options and experiences to tourists.

She added that the panel discussions were very fruitful. As expected, it incited many discussions and debates on how African destinations can explore their potential more effectively and tap into the opportunities arising from the fast-growing Chinese tourism outbound market.