Seychelles is the world’s best island destination throughout Africa and
the Middle East, according to readers of the international travel
magazine Travel and Leisure.The award was announced in the magazine’s August 2006 World’s Best
Awards issue, which recognizes the best hotels, islands, cruises,
airlines and cities in the world, as determined by Travel and Leisure
readers.
Seychelles topped Mauritius and Zanzibar in the Africa and Middle East
category to win the honours for the second year running. The award was
accepted on behalf of Seychelles by its Ambassador to the UN, Jérémie
Bonnelame, at the “World’s Best” awards ceremony in New York on July 20.
The surveys used to determine the winners of the World’s Best Awards
were made available to Travel and Leisure subscribers online during the
first quarter of 2006. Respondents rated the destinations, properties
and companies relevant to their recent travel experiences.

Travel and Leisure editor-in-chief, Nancy Novogrod, in her remarks
during the ceremony said: “A powerful gauge of the interests and tastes
of sophisticated travellers, the 2006 world’s best awards reveal a
preference for places farther away, smaller, and more unique than ever
before.”
According to the Seychelles Tourism Board’s chairman and CEO, Maurice
Loustau-Lalanne, the award once again demonstrated the affinity and
emotion shared by those who have had the Seychelles experience.
“We are thrilled that our islands have attained yet another new accolade
as Travel and Leisure’s World Best Islands in Africa and the Middle
East,” he said. “Seychelles possesses such a rich diversity of islands
and potential experiences, and this award is testimony to the old saying
that ‘seeing is believing.’”

Seychelles has also been nominated this year for a

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World Travel Award as Indian Ocean’s Leading Destination.
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