Stakeholders presented with updated tourism master plan and new strategic plan documents |05 July 2019

Minister Dogley hands over a copy of the master plan to SHTA chairperson Sybille Cardon

Ministries, government agencies, representatives from the private sector and the tourism industry were yesterday presented with copies of the updated Seychelles Tourism Master Plan as well as the new Destination 2023, which sets down the strategies for sustainable tourism growth up to 2023.

The Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Didier Dogley, gave out the final versions of these documents during a ceremony hosted at Hilton Northolme, in a bid to encourage nationwide engagement in the sustainable development of the main pillar of the Seychelles’ economy.

The ‘Seychelles Tourism Master Plan: Situational Analysis’ and ‘Destination 2023: A Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Growth and the Tourism Strategic Plan 2019-2023’ were presented to the Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne; department of civil aviation; Seychelles Tourism Board; Seychelles Hotel and Tourism Association (SHTA) and the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) among others.

Destination 2023 outlines a total of eight priority areas which will guide the tourism sector for the next 5 years and ensure that the set objectives and targets are met.

The priorities include driving brand development, investing in market penetration and research, improving and diversifying products and services, ensuring Seychelles’ competitiveness as a tourism destination and investing in sustainable tourism growth.

This strategy has been drafted following consultations conducted over the period of one and half years with more than 400 persons across both private and the public sector, including the SHTA, Praslin Business Association, La Digue Business Association and the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation.

Daniella Larue of Valsen Consulting and Guy Morel were the consultants commissioned for this project.

Anne Lafortune, principal secretary for tourism, who gave a presentation on the documents, noted that the previous Tourism Master Plan 2012-2020 had needed to be reviewed and updated to better address current realities in the tourism industry.

“The consultants were tasked with identifying the stage and position in which the tourism industry is at currently and this gave birth to the situation analysis in regards to accommodation, maritime and air access, cruise ships, potential risks to the industry and so forth,” PS Lafortune remarked.

Meanwhile, Destination 2023 which set out ambitious sustainable development goals to reach by 2023 was well-received by chairperson of the SHTA, Sybille Cardon, who described them as attainable.

Nonetheless Mrs Cardon stressed that it is not enough to have these well thought ideas on paper but that they should be executed and not be left gathering dust on shelves.

“In order for Destination 2023 to become a living tool and not a document that simply gathers dust on the shelf, the collaboration of all partners is fundamental,” Minister Dogley replied during his speech.

He stated that his ministry is relying on all of its partners as it moves from the planning phase onto the implementation of 2023.

“The milestone is nothing but the end of the beginning; the beginning of taking the tourism sector to greater heights and be a higher performing and inclusive tourism sector with strong inter-sectoral linkages,” Minister Dogley concluded.