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· The President of Seychelles has been invited to visit the headquarters of the United Nations World Tourism Organization in Spain said the regional director for UNWTO Africa Elsia Grandcourt, a Seychellois national
· She extended this invitation during her courtesy visit to Wavel Ramkalawan at State House recently
· The invitation was on behalf of the UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili
The President of Seychelles has been invited to visit the headquarters of the United Nations World Tourism Organization in Spain said the regional director for UNWTO Africa Elsia Grandcourt, a Seychellois national. She extended this invitation during her courtesy visit to Wavel Ramkalawan at State House recently. The invitation was on behalf of the UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.
Grandcourt, a former chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, joined the UNWTO as regional director for Africa in August 2013 and is based at the headquarters in Madrid, Spain. She is currently back in the island nation in the western Indian Ocean on holiday. She said that her discussion with the President touched on the Seychelles’ tourism industry.
Seychelles reopened its borders in March to re-launch its tourism industry which was severely affected by a downturn in travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grandcourt said that while the tourism industry worldwide suffered a major blow from the COVID-19 pandemic, the effect on Seychelles was severe since close to 50 percent of the GDP of the country comes from tourism and related sectors.
Tourism is the top contributor to the Seychelles’ economy. While visitors are returning to the archipelago, they are not from the traditional markets. From May to June, Russia topped the list of visitors coming to Seychelles with 11,328 or 26 percent of the total. Second was the United Arab Emirates with 6,359 or 15 percent of the total, followed by Israel with 5,746 visitors.
The traditional markets are countries such as Germany, France, UK and North Ireland which brought in the highest number of tourists for the last five years. She added that the travel industry will have to adapt to the new conditions going forward.
Seychelles has been a member of the UNWTO since 1991, and Grandcourt said that the organization has always had a good relationship with Seychelles as a top tourist destination.
