Seychelles Flag

The Seychelles Islands, an archipelago of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, has launched www.Seychelles.travel to heighten its online presence on the World Wide Web. According to Karen Confait, an e-marketing agent for the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), “travel” is a global initiative for the travel industry, and the STB felt it was necessary to adopt “.travel” instead of the more widely used “.com” to further the islands initiative and promote the Seychelles as a travel destination. This move, the Board feels, will differentiate the Seychelles from its competitors and provide more visibility for the nation on search engines.

For travelers who have yet to visit the Seychelles, the destination offers many attractions besides its pristine beaches. The STB refers to its national monuments, beautiful Creole architecture, golf, horse-riding, guided nature tours of national reserves such as the legendary Vallée de Mai on Praslin island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and marine parks where one can enjoy some of the rarest species of flora and fauna on Earth. At night, the Seychelles provides a mellow, island-feel nightlife where visitors can take in a casino, local bars, and many fine restaurants offering local Creole dishes and international cuisine prepared by world class chefs. Seychelles.travel is intended for the world to investigate what amenities are available in the Seychelles.

Mahé Island, Seychelles

The STB says that while Seychelles.travel is the official destination website for the nation, and is featured in all of its promotional materials and advertisements, anotherworld.travel is a supplement microsite, which it uses to feature eleven 20-second TV commercials aimed at showcasing the natural beauty, uniqueness, and diversity of the islands. Prospective visitors can further enhance their knowledge of the Seychelles by visiting the microsite before planning their next trip.

The Seychelles is approximately 174 square miles in size. It is situated 930 miles east of mainland Africa, and northeast of the island of Madagascar. Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west, Mauritius and Reunion to the south, Comoros and Mayotte to the southwest, and the Suvadives of the Maldives to the northeast. The Republic has a multi-party political system with an executive President as head of state and government. The President heads a Cabinet of 10 ministers which includes the Vice-President. The nation’s capital is Victoria.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the GDP (purchasing parity) for the Seychelles is approximately $1.437 billion (2008) with a per capita income of $17,000. Its official languages are English, Creole (a French patois) and French. Its population, consisting today of approximately 87,500 people, are predominantly Catholic.

Vallee de Mai, green gecko and coco de mer palm.

Coco de mer in the Vallee de Mai

Today I went on a Mason’s Travel Excursion to Vallee de Mai, a nature park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the island Praslin. The park is a large palm forest with around 5.000 of the rare coco de mer. These palms have the largest seeds of any plant in the world. This nature reserve has also an unique wildlife with birds, mammals, crustaceans, snails and geckos.