Saint Ange Tourism Report 17th November 2019

The Editorial this week highlights:- a. Air France returns to Seychelles, connecting Paris direct with direct non-stop flight. b. World Travel Market in London. c.  Next up – Routes Africa in Kenya. d. Pravind Jugnauth wins Mauritius November elections. e. Mauritius gets a new Tourism Minister –  Joe Lesjongard.   Stand alone articles this week:- 1. Seychelles wins:- Denis Private Island has been named the Indian Ocean’s best Luxury Boutique Retreat & CaranaBeach Hotel has won Seychelles’ best Luxury Romantic Hotel. 2. Cat Cocos Fast Ferry Company of Joe Albert shows continued support for Pink October cancer awareness month. 3. Seychelles Tourism formed an exciting collaboration with Luxury Sydney based Fashion Designer CARL KAPP. 4. Another successful World Travel Market for the Seychelles. 5.  Marcel Horande is the new Director of Sales & Marketing for North Island Seychelles. 6.  Coral bleaching is a major threat for reefs around the world from a Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) post. 7. Postponement of the Seychelles Country Music Hoedown (Show). 8. The Seychelles Tourism Board takes the Seychelles to Los Angeles. 9. The Seychelles welcomes Sky News Arabia to its shores. 10. Semi-Sub Seychelles coming soon. 11. Air Austral: return of the Dreamliner in the colours of the lagoon. 12.  Brit who helped build Seychelles’ airport returns to islands 48 years later . 13. A stark warning: remnants of corals in Seychelles help sea level rise scientists predict the future. 14. The International Council for Bird Preservation (now BirdLife International) purchased Cousin Island to save the endemic bird in 1968.  15. Closing Notes.

Welcome to this 33rd edition of Vol 3 of the Saint Ange Tourism Report of 2019.

Air France returns to Seychelles, connecting Paris direct with direct non-stop flight

Seychelles once again welcomed the blue, white and red-tailed aircraft of Air France, which touched down at Pointe Laure international airport on Wednesday.

Air France touched down in Seychelles at 6.20 a.m. on 30th October with 222 passengers onboard the Airbus A330-200. The airline is taking over from its subsidiary, Joon, which stopped operations to the island nation earlier this year.

The French flag carrier will be providing three weekly flights between Seychelles and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. The flights will be on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays with arrival in the island nation at 6.20 a.m. and departure two hours later.

Flights will be operational throughout the winter season from October 27 to March 28, 2020, by the Airbus A330-200 with a total of 224 seats.

The previous French Ambassador to Seychelles, Lionel Majesté-Larrouy, had said in September that “Seychellois can travel directly to Paris and the French can come here directly. Seychellois can enjoy a shopping experience in the French capital and from now till March 2020, there is a promotional fare of $610 for return flights.” Ambassador Majesté-Larrouy who had been instrumental in getting Air France back on the Seychelles route was one of the invited passengers on the airline’s first flight to Seychelles.

France is currently the second leading country when it comes to visitor arrivals to Seychelles with over 33,000 French nationals coming to Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, since the start of the year.

Air France currently does not have any competition on this direct route between Seychelles and France since Air Seychelles stopped flight operations to Paris in April last year.

According to a press release from Air France, flight offers by the airline are additional to that of its partners.

“Customers will thus be able to easily continue their trip to Praslin in the Seychelles, from Mahe, thanks to an offer of code-shared flights with Air Seychelles, or join Mahe from Nairobi, Kenya, thanks to six weekly frequencies on a code-share basis with Kenya Airways,” the airline said.

Source:- Based from an SNA release

World Travel Market in London

World Travel Market in London has just ended and every tourism destination under the sun were present to showcase their very own tourism unique selling points, their new facilities now on offer, and above all how they are working with their private sector partners to make the destination more inviting to the discerning holiday makers.

Every tourism destination present were looking for opportunities to get the edge and score points in the art of destination visibility. Who did well or better than others we shall all see in the years to come bearing in mind that the lead time needed for the work done to show itself in visitor arrival numbers and yield from that volatile industry.
World Travel Market London (WTM London) remains one of the leading global event for the travel industry to meet industry professionals and conduct business deals. Through its industry networks and unrivalled global reach, WTM London creates personal and business opportunities, providing customers with quality contacts, content and communities.

Staged annually in ExCeL London, WTM London is a vibrant three-day business to business event presenting a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to UK and International travel professionals. All sectors of the travel industry are represented including tourist Boards, airlines, cruise, hotels, luxury, responsible tourism and travel technology.

Next up – Routes Africa in Kenya

The next major tourism event is Routes Africa that will be held at the PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort, Convention Centre and Spa in Mombasa.

Lucía García, the Senior Conference Producer | Routes confirms that the needed aviation ministerial meeting on tourism in Africa will be held at the event. This great news for the Indian Ocean Region as it is for Africa. Air transport remains a major challenge for region as a whole and the continent’s leaders in air connectivity will be analysing challenges that need to be discussed to ensure Africa and the Indian Ocean pave the way for better air access.

The African Tourism Board, the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands, the African Union and Ministers of Tourism of the region should be present and help Africa and its islands plan their future.

Pravind Jugnauth wins Mauritius November elections

Pravind Jugnauth and Alain St.Ange
at the Office of the Prime Minister in Port Louis

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth has won a comfortable majority in the country’s election, according to final results released by the electoral commission.

Jugnauth’s coalition, the centre-right Morisian Alliance, won four more seats in the final allocation to hold 42 of 70 parliamentary seats following Thursday’s vote, the commission said late on Saturday. The result means that his alliance secured the outright majority needed to form government alone.

“I have received a clear mandate,” for a five-year term, Jugnauth told supporters, adding that he would be prime minister for all Mauritians.

While voters choose 62 MPs, the commission appoints eight others from those who attained the highest scores but were not elected directly.

Under this system, set up to rebalance the distribution of seats between parties and communities in the Indian Ocean nation of four volcanic islands, the Morisian Alliance added four seats, the centre-left National Alliance three and the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) one.

That gave the National Alliance, led by two-time prime minister Navin Ramgoolam, a total of 17 seats. The MMM took nine seats.

The commission said roughly three-quarters of the prosperous archipelago’s one million eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots on Thursday, slightly more than the numbers for the last poll in 2014.

Mauritius is predominantly Hindu and is divided into ethnic groups under the 1968 independence constitution to also reflect the sizeable Muslim minority, the Chinese and the “general population”, those of Creole backgrounds or European origin.

Jugnauth’s victory has reinforced the legitimacy of a leader who took over from his father in 2017 without going through a vote.

The prime minister had urged the country to judge him on his short time in office, talking up economic reforms.

The 57 year old had pointed to his stewardship of the economy, which grew at nearly four percent in 2018, social reforms and an infrastructure drive when opponents denounced “papa-piti” (from father to son) politics during the campaign.

Jugnauth has also introduced a minimum wage of about $240 a month, increased pensions for the elderly and reformed labour laws. The first stage of a new light rail network is also scheduled to open in December.

But the diverse country of 1.3 million, situated roughly 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the eastern coast of Africa, is not without its problems.

Youth unemployment, at 22 percent, is also high and income inequality is seen as deepening.

It has also earned a reputation as a tax haven, and has come under fire for helping global companies park their wealth offshore, particularly those operating in Mauritius’ poorer African neighbours.

Source:- Aljazeera

Mauritius gets a new Tourism Minister – Joe Lesjongard

Tourism Minister Joe Lesjongard of Mauritius

Following the general elections held on 7th November in Mauritius, the swearing-in of the new Council of Ministers too place this Tuesday 12th November at the State House in Réduit. Georges Pierre Lesjongard, also known as Joe Lesjongard has been sworn is as the new minister of Tourism under the new government led by Pravind Jugnauth, Prime Minister & minister of Interior and Defence. Mr Lesjongard, who has a background of engineer, has been working at several posts in the government during these last 20 years, namely as minister of Rodrigues, minister of Land and Housing, and more recently as Deputy Speaker at the parliament, among others. During the vesting ceremony, Joe Lesjongard said that he will be working to make Tourism continue contributing to the economy of the country.

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