“With
Seychelles ranked among the top 100 destinations practicing green
sustainable tourism, I felt honored to be addressing the panel. After
all, the Seychelles economy depends largely on tourism and will continue
doing so for years to come. It is, therefore, important for us to
preserve our green environment by encouraging sustainable practices to
ensure that tourists keep coming back to our islands, giving us rave
reviews.”
Sherin
Naiken, Chief Executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, was referring
to her participation in the ITB travel trade show in Berlin from March
4-6. She had been invited to give a talk alongside representatives from
countries like South Africa, Greece, and Tajikistan.
Her
talk focused mainly on the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label (SSTL)
which is a voluntary user-friendly sustainable tourism certification
system designed to inspire more efficient and sustainable ways of doing
business.
She
elaborated on the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label’s (SSTL) mission
to encourage tourism enterprises to mainstream sustainability practices
into their business operations to safeguard the biodiversity and
culture of Seychelles. Encouraging practices such as water conservation,
waste, and energy management.
In
her presentation, Chief Executive Naiken also highlighted Seychelles’
position as one of the leaders in environmental conservation. “We are
one of the few countries that for the past three decades have had an
environmental management plan that encompasses all sectors of the
economy. Tourism policies have been built on environmental laws and
policies that we already have in place.”
“Alain
St.Ange, Minister for Tourism and Culture, promised to get our
Seychelles sustainable label recognized globally in two ceremonies
earlier this year. One whereby three tourism establishments were
recertified and the other one in February when eight new tourism label
assessors were awarded their certificates.
“This
presentation in the travel trade show was the right platform to
showcase the work being done by the certified local tourism
establishments to implement sustainable practices. The presentation will
also push Seychelles in the right direction in achieving the goal set
out by the minister, as well as creating visibility for our efforts to
promote the right type of tourism - green tourism.”
Source: Eturbo News
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