The Seychelles’ Ministry of Tourism and Culture will be signing an agreement with the Fair Trade Tourism soon so that it can sell all Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label certified hotels as sustainable products of Africa. This was announced during a presentation by the tourism department of the Seychelles’ Ministry for Tourism and Culture on 24 June 2015 at the Constance Ephelia Resort, Port Launay.
Attending the presentation were the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme Achim Steiner, the executive secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Professor Rolph Payet, Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange, principal secretary for tourism Anne Lafortune and that of environment Alain Decommarmond, representatives of both departments and of Constance Ephelia Resort.
The accord is also set to stimulate cooperation within the sustainable tourism standards and certification environment, provide leadership in building the capacity of certification scheme owners and certification bodies to provide accessible, reliable and credible certification services to the tourism industry among other aims.
Fair Trade Tourism is a non-profit organisation which is leading the way forward in the development of sustainable and responsible tourism in southern Africa and beyond.
Mr Steiner is on an official visit to Seychelles to attend the 8th conference of parties to the Nairobi Convention for the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment of the Western Indian Ocean.
Director of the standards and regulations division Sihna Levkovic gave an overview of what the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label is all about.
The label is a sustainable tourism management and certification programme designed for the use in Seychelles only under the logo ‘Safeguarding Seychelles for tomorrow’.
Constance Ephelia Resort also gave a short presentation on how the establishment promotes sustainable tourism.
The resort is Green Globe certified since December 2014 and is putting much efforts in remaining self-sufficient and conserving energy and water.
Mr Steiner and the other present were given a brief on the practices used by the resort to save water.
One of the practices which impressed those present was the glass bottling plant which they had the chance to visit after the presentation.
Constance Ephelia Resort has been able to save 25,000,000 litres of water last year, a great feat for the establishment. The resort is also keen in promoting the Creole culture and local products, and supporting our national heritage.
A brochure of interesting sites in the district of Port Glaud has been designed by the resort and sold to clients. Money collected from the sale of these brochures is then donated to the National Heritage Foundation.
