(Seychelles News Agency) - Pristine Seychelles is the name of a new campaign launched to coincide with World Tourism day on September 27. The campaign aims at reminding partners and visitors that Seychelles is a sustainable country. It is being implemented by the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation.

The founder of the foundation, Daniella Ali - Payet, told SNA on Wednesday that the campaign is also putting emphasis on the need and importance of keeping Seychelles – a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean - clean.

“Our foundation is promoting three pillars of sustainable tourism. These are strongly interlinked. They are the environment, social and the economy. All vital as well for our tourism industry and that is why through this campaign we are targeting individuals, tourism establishments and visitors in a coordinated approach.”

A project officer at the foundation, Rosetta Alcindor, said the campaign was initiated by the Tourism Festival Committee which the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation was part of.

“We are educating locals and tourists on the actions they can take as visitors and residents to best support and contribute towards sustainable tourism,” explained Alcindor. The campaign was officially launched on Thursday at the Seychelles’ international airport.

The campaign aims at reminding visitors that Seychelles is a sustainable country. (Seychelles Tourism Board) Photo License: CC-BY

“The foundation in collaboration with a local producer has put together three videos that give detailed guidance of what individuals can do to support the local economy, protect the environment and by supporting and learning about the Creole traditions,” said Alcindor.

The videos are being showcased at public outlets such as at the airport, bus terminal as well in hotel lounges. “The pristine Seychelles badge was produced in the shape of a coco de mer - making it symbolic to Seychelles-  with the Pristine Seychelles logo on,” added Alcindor.

Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation was founded in 2017, as a platform that collects, connect, lobby and share information, knowledge and facilitates collaboration between private sectors and organisations to help Seychelles advance towards Sustainable Tourism.

The foundation undertakes projects that address the three pillars of sustainable tourism in collaboration with local and International not for profit organisations, public and private sectors and academia. According to Alcindor so far the Foundation has implemented a number of projects including food waste reduction programme in hotels and restaurants.

Diana Korner, co-founder of the foundation unveiled the Pristine Seychelles campaign to the tourism sector during last weekend’s tourism ball.

“The campaign is encouraging visitors to be more conscious of their footprint while in Seychelles. The campaign is comprised of the videos mentioned and the badges, soon we plan to produce leaflets.  It was launched at the tourism ball, and the badges were given to invitees,” said Korner.

The foundation said that videos will be integrated into hotel promotions, flights' internal entertainment systems and it will also take the opportunity to promote it in several events.

Alcindor said the campaign is a long-term initiative. “We are open to collaborating with other partners to see how we can promote Pristine Seychelles. The next event will be the World Responsible Tourism Week, which will be held on November 8 in Seychelles," concluded Alcindor.