Seychelles has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening global tourism cooperation and advancing the interests of Small Island Developing States during the 126th Session of the UN Tourism Executive Council held in Toledo, Spain.<\/p>\n
The meeting marked a significant milestone for both the Organisation and Seychelles. It was the first Executive Council convened under the mandate of the newly elected Secretary-General, who presented her Management Vision for 2026\u20132029, built around four key priorities: Foundations, Collaboration, Capacity Building and Sustainability. It was also Seychelles’ first participation on the Executive Council since regaining its seat following elections held during the UN Tourism Regional Commission for Africa (CAF) meeting in Nigeria last year.<\/p>\n
Seychelles was represented by the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Mrs Amanda Bernstein, accompanied by the Principal Secretary for Tourism, Mrs Sherin Francis.<\/p>\n
Addressing the Council, Minister Bernstein welcomed the Secretary-General’s vision and expressed Seychelles’ strong support for the strategic direction being proposed for the Organisation.<\/p>\n
“As a Small Island Developing State where tourism underpins our GDP and the livelihoods of our communities, Seychelles has a direct stake in UN Tourism’s effectiveness. We strongly support the Secretary-General’s management vision and its four priorities,” she stated.<\/p>\n
The Minister noted that strengthening the institutional foundations of UN Tourism is particularly important for smaller Member States, which rely on the Organisation as a key platform for international cooperation, policy support and capacity development. She also welcomed the emphasis placed on collaboration among Member States, the private sector and international partners to support more resilient and competitive tourism destinations.<\/p>\n
A key aspect of Seychelles’ intervention focused on connectivity, a challenge shared by many African and island destinations. Minister Bernstein highlighted the importance of addressing issues relating to visa facilitation, airlift availability and affordability, noting their direct impact on destination resilience and tourism growth.<\/p>\n
“Connectivity remains a shared challenge for Africa and island destinations alike. While visa facilitation, airlift availability and affordability are largely commercial matters, UN Tourism has an important convening role in fostering dialogue among stakeholders, particularly when connectivity disruptions threaten destination resilience. Every visitor supports an entire value chain; when one link fails, the impact is felt across the whole tourism ecosystem. Sustainable growth requires a shared approach that recognises the far-reaching consequences of each stakeholder’s decisions,” she said.<\/p>\n
On capacity building, Minister Bernstein emphasised that workforce development remains one of the most pressing priorities for Seychelles and many tourism-dependent economies. She highlighted Seychelles’ upcoming hosting of the UN Tourism Thematic Conference on Human Capital Development from 2\u20134 July 2026, alongside the 69th Meeting of the Regional Commission for Africa, as an important contribution to advancing this global agenda.<\/p>\n
The Minister also reaffirmed Seychelles’ commitment to sustainable tourism development, noting that for island nations, sustainability is not merely an aspiration but an essential requirement for long-term prosperity.<\/p>\n
“For island nations, sustainability is an existential reality. Protecting our natural and cultural heritage while ensuring economic viability is the defining challenge of our tourism model, and we fully support its central place in the Secretary-General’s vision,” she said.<\/p>\n
Seychelles’ participation in the 126th Executive Council reflects the country’s renewed role in global tourism governance and its commitment to ensuring that the priorities of Small Island Developing States and African destinations continue to be represented within international tourism decision-making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seychelles has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening global tourism cooperation and advancing the interests of Small Island Developing States during the 126th Session of the UN Tourism Executive Council held in Toledo, Spain. The meeting marked a significant milestone for both the Organisation and Seychelles. It was the first Executive Council convened under the mandate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9095,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions\/9095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}