Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St.Ange has met the Seychelles Ambassadors and consuls
aTP- Arab tourism portal News- The meeting with the Seychelles Diplomacy was held at the Seychelles Tourism Academy yesterday and present were secretary of state Barry Faure, principal secretary for tourism Anne Lafortune, chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board Sherin Francis, resident foreign ambassadors of Seychelles as well as those representing our island state overseas.
Addressing those present, Minister St.Ange on the importance of training for the pillar of the Seychelles’ economy, he said the Seychelles government has put a lot of emphasis on training. He gave the example of the site where the academy is now situated which used to be the former America tracking station.
“The government decided that instead of putting a commercial enterprise which many people wanted, we went along the path of providing an educational establishment for our young Seychellois,” he said.
“Tourism is the pillar of our economy here in Seychelles and with this in mind, we needed to ensure we are able to provide a tourism academy that is at the level of the industry that we want our tourism sector to be.”
We can have more students but it is not about the numbers, it is about providing the level of training which will meet the needs of the country, he added.
Minister St.Ange also congratulated Mr Joubert and his team for now STA is the only it is the only post-secondary institution with all its programmes on offer are validated. All the STA programmes on offer are now validated. STA has 10 validated programmes that can be recognised around the world.
.jpg)
He also spoke about the jobs that were said to be for Seychellois only is from the days gone by. But for us to do this we need to train them. Training not only for tourism but for Seychelles tourism, we will have qualified and able employees for our tourism industry.
“We need to respond to the needs of our tourism industry. We will continue to work so that we can deliver for our industry.”
Welcoming the delegates at the academy, the institution’s principal Flavien Joubert echoed words of thanks to the honorary consuls for helping STA to sign accords with hotels and training institutions in countries that they represent.
“The academy welcomes over 156 foreign students per year for internships and though we cannot send as many of our students overseas, the academy sends its young trainee lecturers,” he added.
STA has agreements with Malta, Mauritius, Oman, Zambia, South Africa, Belgium, England, Germany, Austria, Ireland, India, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Philippines.
The honorary consuls’ conference is held every two years allowing the delegates to get updated information about the country. It also provides a platform for them to exchange new ideas with the government and private sector, as well as with the country’s ambassadors.
Tourism was among the main topics for discussions during the honorary consuls’ general conference which was being held at Savoy Resort & Spa, Beau Vallon.
