6s OPEN AFRICA

Ilowto avoidbeing
trapfdby'4*4brerc:t1s )

The Seychelles points

the way to making the
most of nature-tourism,
particularly by avoiding
local antagonism.
Eddie Koch reports :':

l NEW studv on the Sey-

A chelles contains valu-
II 251s lessons aboul hog, :]
L \o.-sm can De useo lo i::

promote national reconstruction.

The Seychelles is reputed to
have the best environmental
policies in the world and an
economy that comes closest to
defining sustainable develoP-
ment thatbuzzword of our
age.
-
More than 40 percent of its
land surface is protected wildlife I
estate. Hotels are not allowed to
exceed the height ofthe nearest
palm tree. Limits are Placed on I
the number of people who can )
visit in any one year, even I
though tourism is its only real
source of wealth. I
And for SouthAfi:icans keen to
I
- explore the potential that
nature-tourism can offer a coun- I
trytryingto recover fromyears of L
oppression and con{Iict, the Sey-
I
chelles sets another worthy t
example: visitors do not under-
mine the digruty and the culture
of the indigenous people.
Most other cor.tntries that relY
primarily on tourism for eco-
nomic growth have failed to
escape this trap.
International studies show
that tourists insult and debase
local forms of cultural expres-
sion in marry parts of the devel-
opingworld.
Take the Caribbean. This is
hor,v novelist Jamaica Kincaid
describes the hostility PeoPle
from her home in Antigua feel
towards foreign rrisitors who
traipse through the island.
"An ugly thing, that is what
you are when you be implemented sound environmental policies to
tourist, an ugly empty ffT; i :]I9:'Lq.qfladise: The Seychellois.have
piece of rubbish pu".i"[ rt?-.! Prevent tourism from destroying:n"ttt:t":O".
.
 i;;$"Jt};'#b,ffi*: I exqgrr.nsnqradise:rneGvc
prevent tourism from destroying their islands
to
piece of rubb"ish pi""it l!."
g
and there lo garr at this and taste that, errenly ttrough the various strata of soci- people and customs."
and it ri,ili ne\er occur to vou that the peo- en'. The positive outcome of these policies.
ple rvho inhabit the place canot sund vou. These policies include \r€e restraint on the author notes, is fragile: there is a range
that behind their closed doors thev laugfr the middle classes. tiee health senices. of counteniailing pressures that could tilt
at your strangeness . .. Iiee primary and secondary education, a popular opinion the other way. These
"The physical sight of you does not housing poliry for the poor and efforts to include growing accusations of com:ption
please ttrem. You have bad manners. They control racketeering by merchants on the and racketeering by officials. a degree of
do not like the way vou speak. They col- Seychelles islands. incompetence in the management of
lapse helpless from laughter, mimicking Another important factor is a govem- locally ou.ned hotels and the country's
the way they imagine you must look as you ment policy tJrat ensures tor.rrist flows do dependence on tourism at the expense of
carryr out some everyday bodily function. not exceed the islands' "carr5ring capacity": other economic sectors.
They do not like you." a total quota of 150 000 visitors each year Also, the success ofSeychelles tourism
In contrast, the sr;rveyin the Seychelles, has been imposed, thus avoiding the may be due to its islands' special natural
whose findings are published in the latest "Mauritius ryndrome". and environmental characteristics, neatly
edition of the Annals oJTourismResearcll Hotels have been distributed and spread encapsulated by the tourism board's cur-
discovered an almost total absence of around the islands, often far from loca] vil- rent slogan: "Unique by a Thousand
resentment on the part of ordinary folk lages. This shares the revenues that Miles."
towards tourists. tourists bring and helps to prevent large A Namibian delegate at a conference on
"Seychellois from all social classes con- hordes of tourists disrupting the daily lives conservation and nature-tourism held in
tinually tell the inquisitive foreign visitor ofresidents. South Africa last week remarked: 'A lot of
that Seychelles likes tourists, Seychelles Third, the govemment has deliberately black people are entering the tourism busi-
wants tourists, Seychelles needs tourists," excluded backpackers and the "lager louts" ness in our country. But there's a problem
says author David Wilson. who invade villagers in prime tourist desti- with the Transvaal 'four-by-four boers'.
The linding came as a surprise to the nations in many other parts of the world. They are an undisciplined bunch and
researcher, who says he expected the Sey- There are no cut-price charter flights, show no respect to us, ueral as hulle 'n
chellois experience to conform with that of accommodation has to booked before biefiie uerldam rs (especially if they're a lit-
the Caribbeans. entering the country and there is a com- fle drunk)."
What accounts for the benign impact plete ban on camping. If nature-tourism is to become a major
thattourismhas had onthe cr-rlture of Sey- 'The majority of people looking to 'disco' contributor to social development on the
chelles inhabitants? the night away were young Seychellois subcontinent, it is important to counter
Most important, points out the study, themselves," says the report. "The struc- factors that lead to these kind of antago-
is that the government has imple- ture of tor-rrism in Seychelles pre-selects a nisms on the part of local people. Usefrrl
mented social policies which ensure that type of tourist inclined to be reasonably principles might lie in that group of islands
I benefits from the tourism trade are spread well-behaved and sensitive toward local in the middle of the Ledian Ocean.

@ENGEN "Tourism isthe mirror of the