Alain St.Ange, the Leader of the new “One Seychelles” political party – Who is he?

Alain St.Ange is remembered right across the world as the successful and dynamic Tourism Minister of the Seychelles who aspired to fly the Seychelles Flag at the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) if the island’s bid for the position of Secretary General had not been abruptly withdrawn as Africa shot itself in the foot yet again.

In the years when Alain St.Ange was Minister of Tourism of the Seychelles, the islands were recording 10% -12% growth in visitor arrival numbers month on month, and this even without enough air carriers adequately providing for adequate inbound seats. His appointment in the role of Minister is largely due to the Seychelles private sector business trade who pushed for him to take over the island’s marketing.  They then continued to pressure for one of their own to be appointed as CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board (2009). It is the Seychelles private sector trade who saw the successes by St.Ange and pressured President James Michel to put someone from business sector in the post of Minister of Tourism to put that Ministry back on track. Louis D’Offay, the President of the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association (SHTA) went on record to confirm their Association’s success in having one of their own in the Office of Minister.

A speaker on tourism matters who continues to be sought after on the international circuit as one reputed to know his subject matter well.  He is followed and admired because he always speaks off the cuff with no written text and this continues to impress.

 Alain St.Ange is now officially back in the political arena of his Seychelles Islands with the launching of his “One Seychelles” political party.  He is a Seychellois Islander he says happily, and guarantees he will work to put the people of the islands first in every decision taken by the islands. He has been a Member of the Seychelles Parliament in the second and also in the third Republic of the Seychelles. He successfully won the La Digue Constituency (1979) (the electoral seat held by his father Karl St.Ange in the years before the 1976 Independence of Seychelles from Great Britain) and then won the Bel Air Constituency (2002) taking the President’s own residential district away from the ruling party against all odds. Alain St.Ange became the Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Culture (2012) when Seychelles went beyond political party lines to appoint two of its Ministers in their field of expertise (Alain St.Ange for Tourism and World Bank man Pierre Laporte for Finance).  This was followed by his appointment as the Seychelles Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine in 2016.

Alain St.Ange is a Tourism Consultant heading the “Saint Ange Consultancy” and is responsible for the widely distributed weekly “Saint Ange Tourism Report”. He was First President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands (Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, Comoros and Mayotte) as remains the only one who was elected to serve a second back-to-back mandate. He represented eTN Newswire in the Indian Ocean and had his own column for many years. Alain St.Ange sat on the Board of the UNWTO and is also the founding President of the Seychelles Labor Union (SLU), President of the African Tourism Board (ATB), Deputy Secretary General of FORSEAA (Forum of Small Medium Economic AFRICA ASEAN) based in Jakarta Indonesia, listed as a Consultant for TMN (Travel Marketing Network) in New York USA, Co-Chair of the SUNx (Strong Universal Network) Organisation in London UK, Vice President & Founding Member of ICTP (International Coalition of Tourism Partners), Member Advisory Board of the non-profit organisation “Helping Needy Welfare Society of India”.

Alain St.Ange has been interviewed by some of the biggest television channels and continues to be called by International Press as a source of reference. He was on ‘Quest means Business’ with Richard Quest of CNN and Alan Boulton on Sky News during his UNWTO Campaign. He is not shy with a ‘gift of the gab’ making his an easy personality for live interviews.