Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, has welcomed the decision by the founding members of the ICTP (International Council of Tourism Partners) to make Seychelles the venue of the organization’s General Assembly this coming July.

The Seychelles Minister St.Ange said that his ministry would be working with the ICTP Secretariat in organizing the event to ensure adequate time was made available for all delegates to also have the chance of discovering Seychelles.

“We are unique mid-ocean islands with tourism as the pillar of our economy. It will be a great opportunity to showcase what we are to representatives of countries who are serious about tourism as we are,” the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture said.

The ICTP General Assembly will be taking place alongside the 2012 Routes Africa Forum, the RETOSA Board Meeting, the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands Meeting, and a gathering of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa. These meetings will bring a lot of press attention to Seychelles for the week-long period of tourism activities.

The International Council of Tourism Partners is a new grassroots travel and tourism coalition of global destinations committed to quality service and green growth. The ICTP logo represents the strength in collaboration (the block) of many small communities (the lines) committed to sustainable oceans (blue) and land (green).

ICTP engages communities and their stakeholders to share quality and green opportunities including tools and resources, access to funding, education, and marketing support. ICTP advocates sustainable aviation growth, streamlined travel formalities, and fair coherent taxation.

ICTP supports the UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, and a range of programs that underpin them. The ICTP alliance is represented in Haleiwa, Hawaii, USA; Brussels, Belgium; Bali, Indonesia; and Victoria, Seychelles. ICTP membership is available to qualified destinations free of charge. Academy membership features a prestigious and selected group of destinations.

Members of destinations currently include Anguilla; Aruba; Bangladesh; Canada; China; Croatia; Greece; Grenada; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iran; La Reunion (French Indian Ocean); Malaysia; Malawi; Mexico; Morocco; Nicaragua; Northern Mariana Islands, US Pacific Island Territory; Pakistan; Palestine; Rwanda; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sultante of Oman; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Yemen; Zimbabwe; and from the US: Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

Partner associations include: African Bureau of Conventions; African Chamber of Commerce Dallas/Fort Worth; Africa Travel Association; Alliance for training and research in the field of social and solidarity tourism (ISTO/OITS); Cultural and Environment Conservation Society; DC-Cam (Cambodia); Hawaii Tourism Association; International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT); International Organization of Electronic Tourism Industry (IOETI); Livingstone International University of Tourism Excellence, Zambia; Positive Impact Events, Manchester, UK; Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, China; SKAL International; Society for Accessible Travel&Hospitality (SATH); Sustainable Travel International (STI); The Region Initiative, Pakistan; University of Florida: Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute; University of Hawaii; University of Technology Mauritius; and vzw Reis-en Opleidingscentrum, Gent, Belgium; and University of Technology Mauritius.