The site of the old look-out and flag signaling station at the top of Signal Hill which overlooks Victoria has significant potential to become one of Seychelles’ most popular and visited sites alongside such other natural and cultural heritage sites as the Mission Ruins or Copolia. It has two of the most essential elements which make for a successful visitor attraction: view impact and historical interest.
The popularity of a similar Signal Hill visitor attraction at Cape Town in South Africa as well as St. John in Newfoundland, Canada, is a good indication of how Victoria’s Signal Hill can also become one of the major heritage landmarks around the capital. Like the Seychelles’ own Signal Hill, the Cape Town and Newfoundland Signal Hill sites were also used as look-out posts and signaling station to communicate with port authorities below of the arrival of ships. Today, both sites are landmark heritage attractions.
The interest of the local authorities of the district of Mont Buxton, of the Member of the National Assembly, and the District Administration with the support and encouragement of the Minister of Tourism and Culture and the relevant affiliated bodies of the Ministry (Seychelles Heritage Foundation, Seychelles Tourism Board) as well as the involvement of Seychelles Port Authority, can no doubt create a strong and necessary partnership to develop a sustainable and meaningful heritage project beneficial to the local community, to heritage preservation and to the further development of cultural tourism.
It was in this context that on Friday, August 5, Minister St.Ange, the island's Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, with a delegation of representatives of the relevant authorities made their way to the top of Signal Hill to have a first-hand view of what a successful project can entail and how a concerted effort involving the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Mont Buxton district authorities, the Seychelles Port Authority, and the Seychelles Tourism Board, as well as the Seychelles Heritage Foundation, can enhance the site into a main and long-lasting cultural tourism attraction both for foreign and local visitors.
Following prior discussions with concerned parties including the Member of National Assembly for Mont Buxton, Miss Cheryl Vengadasamy and CEO of the Seychelles Port Authority, Mr. Andre Ciseau, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture is confident that a very attractive but sustainable heritage project with a number of key components will be developed to bring out the historical significance of Signal Hill and the incredible views that it offers from the site of the old signal post.