Seychelles

Coordinates: 4°35′S 55°40′E / 4.583°S 55.667°E / -4.583; 55.667

Seychelles (ⁱ/seɪˈʃɛlz/ say-SHELZ; French: [sɛʃɛl]), officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles; Creole: Repiblik Sesel), is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The 115-island country, whose capital is Victoria, lies 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland East Africa. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius to the south.

Seychelles, with a population of 90,024, has the smallest population of any independent African state; however, it does have a larger population than the UK overseas territory Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

History

The Seychelles were uninhabited throughout most of recorded history. Some scholars assume that Austronesian seafarers and later Maldivian and Arab traders were the first to visit the uninhabited Seychelles. The earliest recorded sighting by Europeans took place in 1502 by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral). The earliest recorded landing was in January 1609, by the crew of the "Ascension" under Captain Sharpeigh during the fourth voyage of the British East India Company.

Investment

Investment is time, energy, or matter spent in the hope of future benefits actualized within a specified date or time frame. This article concerns investment in finance.

In finance, investment is buying or creating an asset with the expectation of capital appreciation, dividends (profit), interest earnings, rents, or some combination of these returns. This may or may not be backed by research and analysis. Most or all forms of investment involve some form of risk, such as investment in equities, property, and even fixed interest securities which are subject, among other things, to inflation risk. It is indispensable for project investors to identify and manage the risks related to the investment. Investment and investing is distinguished from other uses of money (such as saving, speculation, donation, gifting), in that the deployment of money is done for the purposes of obtaining a positive expected return.

Overview

In finance, investment is the purchase of an asset or item with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future and be sold at the higher price. It generally does not include deposits with a bank or similar institution. The term investment is usually used when referring to a long-term outlook. This is the opposite of trading or speculation, which are short-term practices involving a much higher degree of risk. Financial assets take many forms and can range from the ultra safe low return government bonds to much higher risk higher reward international stocks. A good investment strategy will diversify the portfolio according to the specified needs.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka (/sriːˈlɑːŋkə, -ˈlæŋkə/ or ⁱ/ʃriː-/;Sinhalese - ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, Tamil Ilaṅkai), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon (/sᵻˈlɒnˌ seɪ-ˌ siː-/), is an island country in South Asia near south-east India.

Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest. Its documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II.

A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, and languages. In addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, the Pāli Canon, dates back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC. The country's recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when Sri Lankan military defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009.

Destination marketing organization

A destination marketing organization (DMO) or convention and visitors bureau (CVB) is an organization that promotes a town, city, region, or country in order to increase the number of visitors. It promotes the development and marketing of a destination, focusing on convention sales, tourism marketing, and services.

Such organizations promote economic development of a destination by increasing visits from tourists and business travelers, which generates overnight lodging for a destination, visits to restaurants, and shopping revenues and are typically funded by taxes. Convention and visitor bureaus are the most important tourism marketing organizations in their respective tourist destinations, as they are directly responsible for marketing the destination brand through travel and tourism "product awareness" to visitors. DMOs produce billions of dollars in direct and indirect revenue and taxes for their destinations' economies with their marketing and sales expertise.

Seychelles Tourism Board

The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), a public/private sector body headed by CEO Ms. Sherin Naiken, with Mrs. Wendy Pierre as Chairman, oversees most aspects of Seychelles' tourism industry whose Minister is Mr. Alain St. Ange. The Seychelles Tourism Board is responsible for implementing Seychelles' national tourism policy, promoting the destination, research, product development, monitoring of standards and coordinating with its tourism offices, representative agencies and Seychelles Tourism Ambassadors abroad.

The Seychelles Tourism Board is a statutory body that came into existence on 1 April 2005 when the Seychelles Tourism Board Act, 2005, came into force. The Act brought together all regulatory and monitoring functions of the Department of Tourism within the Ministry of Tourism and Transport, and all promotional and marketing activities of the Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority. The Policy Planning and International Co-operation Division was retained under a newly formed Department of Tourism and Transport which fell under the vice-president’s office. The Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority ceased to exist as legal entity.