New Year Message |29 December 2023
“Rach out with our hands of friendship and together embrace the needed unity for a better world order, a more buoyant tourism industry and for a great 2024.”
Alain St.Ange
Alain St.Ange, the former Seychelles Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine who is now the Head of his Saint Ange Tourism Consultancy echoes his New Year Message
As 2023 draws to a close, it is again time for us all to reflect on the year that was, and on the moments we all shared that kept us connected and appreciative of one another. 2023 was a busy year for me. Through my Tourism Consultancy Bureau, I was able to discover many new tourism destinations as I was called on to deliver an address on either tourism, air access, or sustainable tourism development, among others. I was also engaged to advise a Tourism Board or Ministry of Tourism on the best way forward in this post-Covid environment and in a world, where the new priority today, is looking at the ongoing effects of wars on tourism. I also looked at new tourism projects with would be investors and their respective government facilitators. A diverse but interesting work schedule it was.
As I say goodbye to 2023, I want to thank all my family members, friends, and colleagues for your part in making 2023 a special year. Thank you for your support, your encouragement and for your friendship. A big thank you also goes to the members of the press fraternity. You are true friends and have reported on my missions and ensured I remained visible, the key to my success as well as the success of every tourism destination I have been associated with.
Visibility also comes with documentation. A biography about my life in tourism ‘Alain St.Ange – A Life in Tourism’ was also published this year and a very detailed book about my ancestry lines‘Alain & Ginette St.Ange – FamilyTies’is expected in the country around January 15, 2024. My autobiography ‘Alain St.Ange – My Journey’ will follow soon after, right before the last two books in my series: - ‘Alain St.Ange – Life & Time in Politics’ & ‘Alain St.Ange – Life & Time in Tourism’.
2024 looks good and busy for me, with already planned and confirmed trips to Nigeria and La Reunion in January, Egypt and Eswatini in February, ITB in Berlin in early March and even the USA in June; all this within the first six months of 2024. Over and above these I have been informed that I have been approved as a visiting Professor in the Council of Tourism Studies department at Faculty of Tourism and Hotels in a main University of Egypt, andI will also board a Cruise Ship to deliver Port Lectures for a three-week period from South Africa, the whole coast, up to the Indian Ocean Islands.
My Christmas message of just a week ago brought such a positive reaction after I hinted that Christmas was not only celebrated by Christians, but that it was instead a symbol of peace to the world. This same idea was part of a message published on a tourism world wire before Christmas, when many of us agreed that perhaps, a modern mindset is symbolized by our industry: - Travel and tourism, a day where we rally as one to embrace the spirit of peace. As part of the world of tourism, we do know that peace is a needed ingredient for tourism’s continued consolidation, and the world, our world and your world needs peace, real peace for a more conducive progress.
So, as we bid farewell to 2023, let us again, every one of us, reach out with our hands of friendship and together embrace the needed unity for a better world order, a more buoyant tourism industry and for a great 2024.
I wish you all a Happy New Year 2024 and happy holidays!
Alain St.Ange