Charles Ajunwa
Seychelles Ambassador At Large, Dr. Alain St.Ange, has challenged the world to measure tourism by more than arrival numbers, calling it one of humanity’s largest and most underrated forms of exchange
St.Ange gave the challenge to delegates as he delivered the keynote address at the Oxford Global Diplomat Summit and Dialogue at the Lord Mayor’s Cabinet Office, in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Oxford.
The former Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Culture asked: What if the most powerful diplomacy of our time happens not in embassies or at summit tables, but over a shared meal?
Speaking on the theme ‘Tourism as a Bridge Between Nations’, St. Ange made the case that tourism deserves to be understood as far more than an economic sector. It is, he argued, a daily act of human connection that can challenge prejudice, strengthen peace, and reshape how nations see one another.
“At its best, tourism allows us to meet each other as people,” St.Ange told the gathering. “And at a time when the world is more connected than ever, but also deeply divided in many ways, that matters.”
St. Ange opened with figures that few in the room could ignore. The World Travel and Tourism Council forecasts that in 2026, travel and tourism will contribute around $12 trillion to the global economy — almost 10 per cent of global GDP. The sector is expected to support roughly 376 million jobs, or about one in every nine jobs worldwide.
Yet he was quick to push past the statistics. Why, he asked, do we so often reduce tourism to a scoreboard of arrivals?
“Behind every international arrival is a person crossing a border, a culture being encountered, and a community being seen. And sometimes, a prejudice being challenged,” he said.
The difference between knowing about a country and actually knowing its people, he argued, is the difference tourism can make.
According to him, a nation becomes the home of the taxi driver who spoke about his children, and an unfamiliar culture becomes the family who welcomed a visitor to their table.
“That is cultural diplomacy,” St.Ange said. “Not governments telling people to understand one another. But people discovering one another for themselves.”
Organisers invited St.Ange as both Guest of Honour and keynote speaker, with a focus on tourism and international relations. His address explored the theme ‘Tourism as a Bridge Between Nations: Advancing Cultural Diplomacy, Global Connectivity and Sustainable Growth’.
Drawing on decades of hands-on experience, he examined how tourism strengthens cultural ties, widens economic opportunity, and builds closer relations between nations — questions that matter more than ever as destinations compete for attention and trust.
The summit also served as the launch platform for the Nelson Mandela Leadership Awards 2026, an international initiative recognising outstanding leadership and global impact. It is worth noting that St.Ange himself is a previous recipient of the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award, having been honoured with the distinction in 2024. He was invited to attend the 2026 launch as a Guest of Honour as well.
Alain St.Ange was born and raised on the island of La Digue in the Seychelles. He began his journey in tourism handling luggage at his father’s small hotel, the ‘Cabane des Anges’ on La Digue. His father, Karl St.Ange, had entered the industry in 1972, the year Seychelles opened its international airport, and his son soon joined him.
St.Ange went on to study Hotel Management in Germany and Tourism Management in France. By 1981, at the age of 27, he was appointed Deputy Director of the newly established Seychelles Tourist Board, at a moment when the islands were working to relaunch tourism following a turbulent chapter in their history. That year, Seychelles welcomed 60,425 visitors — a figure that climbed to 100,000 by 1991 after the launch of Air Seychelles’ international operations.
His path then took him into the private sector, with tourism trade roles in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, in Australia, and back home in Seychelles.
In 2009, following protracted discussions between the Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association and the Government of President James Michel, St.Ange was appointed Director of Marketing at the Seychelles Tourism Board — a role that marked his return to the public sector and set the stage for what followed. A year later, in 2010, he was elevated to Chief Executive Officer of the Board, a position from which he would reshape how a small island nation projected itself to the world.
It was in that capacity that he launched the annual Carnaval International de Victoria in 2011, a bold move to lift the islands’ visibility in key tourism source markets. It was one of several innovative ideas that raised a pointed question: what can a small nation achieve when it stops competing on budget alone and starts competing on imagination?