Alain St. Ange on 27 September 2020 was awarded the prestigious and highly coveted international honor of ‘Tourism Hero’.The Safer Tourism Hall of International Tourism Heroes is open by invitation only. Individuals who have been bestowed the ‘Tourism Hero’ title have shown extraordinary leadership, innovation, and actions. They go the extra step.
Alain St.Ange’s long list of accolades and contributions to the field of tourism were cited, with the Organization finally concluding, “Mr. St. Ange is currently president of the African Tourism Board and co-chair of Project Hope, an African initiative in response to the COVID pandemic. [He] has worked day and night for so many years for the better of the tourism industry and has been seen speaking at events around the globe. Mr. St.Ange brought not only himself, but the reputation of his Country to become a leading force in international tourism. Friends with all, enemies with none is what drives Mr. St. Ange in the love of this industry. He truly deserves his prominent seat in the International Hall of Tourism Heroes.” Mr. St. Ange has received numerous awards and honours, including the Mahatma Gandhi Honour Award (2014) for his work in strengthening Indo-Seychelles relations, a Plaque of Honour from the House of Lords in London (2015), and the Tourism Eminent Achiever Award in Africa (2015).
He has also authored and co-authored several books about Seychelles. He was appointed as the Seychelles Director of Marketing in 2009, and in 2010, promoted to CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board. In 2012, he was elected as the first President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands Regional Organization (Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, Comoros & Mayotte) aimed at forming a new tourism destination brand. That same year, he was named as the Minister for Tourism and Culture. In 2013, he was unanimously elected by the Commission of the Africa region (CAF) as member of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
His Ministerial portfolios later grew significantly to include Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine. He worked endlessly to establish Seychelles as one of the world’s most attractive and visible travel destinations. Under his leadership, tourism in Seychelles flourished. Through empowering businesses and working to become a role model in sustainability efforts, Alain St.Ange was the tenacious and resourceful Minister. As a direct result Seychelles saw a significant increase in capital investments from resorts, hotels and destination management companies.
In 2017, he was pushed by countless leaders in the field across the globe to enter the race for the Secretary-General post for the UNWTO, but it is recalled that the Seychelles Government pulled the plug on his candidature mere hours before the elections were due to be held, and while he and his family were already present in Madrid.
Mr. St.Ange was unanimously nominated by his peers in the ONE SEYCHELLES political party as their Presidential Candidate, and he is formally contesting the National elections that are due to be held next month. His rivals in the Presidential elections are outgoing President, Mr. Danny Faure, and Father Wavel Ramkalawan.
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