Consuls find improved Seychelles easier to market

Seychelles' Honorary consuls and guests in group photo after opening ceremony Tuesday April 22, at Kempinski Resort at Baie Lazare (Louis Toussaint, Seychelles Nation) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - Many of Seychelles’ honorary consuls abroad have said they are finding the Indian Ocean archipelago much easier to market as a tourism and foreign direct investment destination.

They said this late Thursday April 24, at the end of their biennial conference which started on Tuesday April 22 at the country’s Kempinski resort in Baie Lazare district, 25 kilometres south of the island nation’s capital Victoria.

“Seychelles is a more competitive destination that is much easier to sell after the developments that have taken place since the 2008 economic reforms,” said the islands’ honorary consul general in Hungary, Laslo Kiss.

He told journalists he has been coming to Seychelles for the last 10 years, and the 2008 reforms have made tremendous changes which are visible in the way businesses related to tourism like taxi operations and others have become robust.

“The country has improved in literally every aspect although you cannot say that about traffic flow. There is much more congestion of vehicles on the roads.”

Agreeing with Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam who said the conference was a success, he said the opportunity to share ideas among the 60 envoys was very useful.

“We have been able to put a face to the emails and phone calls we have been exchanging. It has been very useful to interact as a group and exchange ideas, but also to have one-on-one talks with our colleagues from other countries,” said Kiss.

Adam reiterated that the consuls “are the faces and voices of Seychelles abroad,” and what they do for the island nation abroad helps let the world what the country has been able to do, the challenges it is facing and its plans for the future.

During the meeting the consuls were apprised of the success of the Seychelles 2008 reforms and the difference the changes have brought to the country five years on, the Blue Economy concept, the islands’ tourism policy and marketing strategy as well as Seychelles’ candidature for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council during the 2017-2018 period.

The Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne thanked the consuls for the achievements they have helped Seychelles realize, particularly since the last conference held in 2011.

“Many of our consuls continue to exceed expectations and have gone as far as arranging short training courses for professionals in Seychelles and they are often the source of donations of equipment such as computers as well as books to schools and other institutions,” he had told them earlier.

Sixty of the ninety Seychelles’ consuls abroad attended the conference.