Highlighting the tourism qualities of Seychelles

Seychellois tour operators and restaurants will soon benefit from the « Sustainable Seychelles » certification program, a senior tourism official announced on Wednesday.

The Tourism Department met with representatives of restaurateurs and tour operators to discuss the criteria for obtaining and participating in the program. The Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label (SSTL) was created in 2012 and later renamed the Sustainable Seychelles Certification, which ranks and certifies accommodation establishments of all sizes.

This is a voluntary certification system that recognizes and rewards tourism businesses that implement best practices in sustainability in their operations. Principal Secretary for Tourism, Sherin Francis, described the program as a necessary tool to acknowledge the efforts made by these tourism sector establishments to become more sustainable.

« Currently, 25 tourist accommodation establishments participate in the program. However, over the past year, with the addition of the recognition element, we have been able to add around 52 other establishments to the program. These are establishments transitioning to more sustainable practices, some of which have already obtained the required points and are in the final phase before being certified, » Francis added.

Internationally recognized, the Sustainable Seychelles certificate also enjoys recognition status from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), which conducts third-party evaluations of the establishments.