The beauty of the Seychelles is rooting itself in South Africa with the opening of an office in Johannesburg. The decision taken by the Seychelles Tourism Board to open an office in the industrial city of South Africa is to maintain a Seychelles tourism presence in the heart of the country.

Anne Lafortune, principal secretary for tourism Seychelles, speaks to Breaking Travel News at the World Travel Awards Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony 2015, hosted by Kempinski Seychelles Resort.

Guests arriving at the World Travel Awards Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony have been treated to a glamorous cocktail reception by Seychelles Breweries. More than 50 industry leaders were in attendance at the event, held at Gala Ceremony host hotel Kempinski Seychelles Resort.

Emirates is set to increase its capacity to the popular Indian Ocean Island of Seychelles, when it switches from the current Airbus 330-200 used on one of the two daily services to a larger Boeing 777-300ER from June 1st 2015. The introduction of the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER, which operates as flight EK705 from Dubai and as EK706 on the return flight, will increase overall capacity on the route by 1,722 seats per week and will make the route an all-Boeing 777 operation.

For the past ten years, the Seychelles’ community of artists have been asking for a music stadium for expression of all forms of arts. In 2012, when Alain St Ange, the minister for tourism and culture, was mandated with the portfolio of culture, he made it his mission to give the artists a musical stadium, one which he said “they truly deserve”.

In the continuous drive by the Seychelles Ministry of Tourism and Culture to be updated with the progress in the tourism industry and to hear the ever changing challenges being faced by the industry, Minister Alai St.Ange is again this year engaging in a series of meetings with the island’s tourism trade partners.