DEFENDING THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

THE MAIN PILLAR OF OUR ECONOMY

There is an urgent need for everyone to rally and defend our tourism industry. We will be we will be dedicating weekly contributions to tourism to call on everyone to join us in defending our fragile industry. This industry remains the main pillar of our economy and we are not about to let it crumble while some unscrupulous actors try to milk it for their own pockets or ulterior motives.

Today we want to take up the complaints being received from the UK trade with regards to the shortage of seats for Seychelles on our national airline. Locally everyone is scared to raise the issue, but British tour operators and travel agents are saying that the situation is alarming. We need to stand up and take notice.

Why is our beloved national carrier failing in its mission to serve the needs and interests of our destination? There are so many questions that we need addressed and we put the questions out to the ‘capable’' high powered management team at Air Seychelles. We are shocked to see a multi million building going up by the airport cargo terminal by the very same company that came to the national assembly late last year to seek several millions for a bailout. How ironic!

But here is the story about the airline’s disloyalty in serving the ‘best interests’ of our country and its frail tourism industry… Air Seychelles has as its CEO, a Mauritian. Air Seychelles has contracted with another Mauritian Company in London to block a huge amount of seats on its flights out of London - which conveniently flies onward to Mauritius.The market is primarily an ethnic one (Mauritian nationals)!Good business sense? Well, serving the interests of our competition is the more likely scenario. Today the airline is coming in with barely a 60% load factor. They are sweating as Emirates plans to move in with daily flights. But what are those at the top doing in the face of all this competition? Putting their foot in their mouth to put it mildly…

We hear from the UK that Air Seychelles is saying that it needs the traffic to Mauritius to keep itself afloat. What a rubbish excuse! The flight ticket to Mauritius (on Air Seychelles) is the cheapest on the market and even Air Mauritius is up in arms with our airline about this practice. What is even more mind-boggling is that the London to Mauritius ticket is CHEAPER than the London / Seychelles one – and there is an extra two hour journey! Why not just give that rate for flights to Seychelles and fill the flight with passengers to Seychelles? Do we need to be a rocket scientist to figure out such simple logic? Yes, these fares will be cheaper than they are today, but they will help fill the hotel rooms in Seychelles. They will make taxis work. They will lend a hand to the fishermen and farmers to sell their products. They will help the handicraft people to sell their goods and the whole Seychelles tourism industry will benefit. Unlike today where we see Mauritius profiting and the Mauritians laughing all the way to their bank saying how stupid the Seychellois are; working to make their economy prosper.

The bid question being asked today when one takes notice of the visitor arrival figures from the UK is to ask why St.Ange and the STB are spending money in the UK to promote Seychelles. With limited seat capacity to our beautiful islands at a premium price, cheaper fares to Mauritius through a Mauritian Company to support its ethnic traffic, we can all say forget the UK market until Air Seychelles believes in Seychelles and stops listening to the Mauritian heading Air Seychelles. We cannot really blame that Mauritian CEO! Rajiv Brisseur is just being loyal to his motherland Mauritius! BUT, what about David Savy? Where is your heart my brother? Where is your head? Up there in the clouds most probably…

Today, Seychelles after a year of STB with a new vision we need to ask - what has happened to Russia, Germany and Switzerland? Simple! We can all reply quickly that these markets have been yo-yoed by Air Seychelles. Today they are flying there and tomorrow they are out only to announce that they are back again a few months later. In again, out again and back in again. Makes genius business sense don’t you think?

Our visitor arrival numbers cannot be consolidated with such irresponsible actions by the country's national airline. Let us be serious! Get our planes up in the air to bring in the much needed visitors to our shores instead of leaving them like ‘gran golans’ on the tarmac. Fly them in with much needed bums on the seats so that we can sustain our fragile tourism industry and bankrupt economy, instead of serving the interests of our Mauritian ‘dalons’ or the British government’s thirst for oil in the Falklands for that matter!

And for Pete’s sake, let us do to Air Seychelles what was done to STB. Put someone in charge with a heart for Seychelles. It is high time that we start serving the interests of our country and that of its people. Is that asking too much? Will we be accused of being ‘Zenofobik’ Mr. Michel? NO! To enhance your vocabulary, it is called PATRIOTISM!!!!!

Next week we shall investigate where we have gone wrong. Why are we not receiving the same visitor arrival numbers as Mauritius and Maldives, our two Indian Ocean Islands competing with us for the same tourists?