Monday, April 16, 2012

Praslin and La Digue tourism members meet with Seychelles Ministers


Photos from Seychelles Ministry of Tourism & Culture

Apr 09, 2012

Members of the SHTA (Seychelles Hospitality & Tourism Association) from Praslin and La Digue rallied at Tante Mimi Restaurant & Casino at Cote D’Or, Praslin for a follow-up dialogue meeting with members of the government. It was the Praslin Hotelier Christopher Gill who was in the Chair replacing Louis D’Offay, the Association’s Chairman, who could not be present for the meeting who welcomed Minister Joel Morgan, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Transport; and Minister Alain St.Ange, the Minister for Tourism and Culture; and their respective delegations for the Praslin meeting.

Mr. Gill spoke about the need for the follow-up meeting saying that many points raised in the first such meeting needed clarification and an update from the respective authorities. Mr. Christopher Gill asked Minister Alain St.Ange and Minister Joel Morgan to each make a statement to the gathered tourism industry members.

Minister St.Ange started off by assuring all tourism operators of the islands of Praslin and La Digue that he remained the same friend of the industry he had been all the years he sat with them as a Committee Member of their association. He said that his new position as Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture should be seen as positive for the industry as it was the industry’s association who had made the move to get him into the Civil Service as the Tourism Board’s director of Marketing. Minister Alain St.Ange then went over the letter received from the Chairman of the industry’s association saying that the letter had been received and the points made heard. He said that the request for the Tourism Board to have a Director of Marketing following his move to the position of Minister had been approved and that the government was now waiting for recommendations from the chairman of the industry’s association. He also assured the gathered tourism industry members that Seychelles was for having direct air access to the traditional main tourist markets but that this was proving difficult to achieve. He announced that in the coming weeks a meeting was being organized in Paris, France, with French tour operators selling Seychelles and airlines connecting Seychelles to France directly through a stop in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, La Reunion, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa.

Minister Joel Morgan was next to address the Praslin and La Digue tourism industry members. He went over the security measures in place and the statistics received for the period to date which showed a marked improvement on the situation on hand. He touched on the domestic air services provided by Air Seychelles and reaffirmed the position of the Seychelles government on the question of air access.

Before opening the meeting for questions and statements from the floor, Mr. Christopher Gill thanked both Minister Joel Morgan and Minister Alain St.Ange for traveling to Praslin for that meeting. Mr. Gill appealed to see the reintroduction of the Security Committee in association with the tourism association.

Many points of concern and statements were tabled from the floor, which saw reactions by both Ministers present and by Mr. Gill from the Chair before the CEO of the Public Utility Corporation, Mr. Philippe Morin, and Capt. Valmont of the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority, presented a short statement on relevant situations facing Praslin and La Digue. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ernest Quatre, also answered to queries raised from the floor. Elsia Grandcourt, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board; Raymond St.Ange and Jenifer Sinon from the SHTA; Terrence Mondon, the PS for the Ministry of Transport; and Franky Madeleine from the Licensing Authority were among the officials who also traveled from Mahe for the Praslin meeting.

Minister Alain St.Ange told the press after the meeting that a further meeting on La Digue was now being planned as it was the government’s wish to keep open the spirit of dialogue in place. “We believe that the avenues of discussion developed with all sectors of the industry in the preparations of the Tourism Master Plan needed to be maintained. We appreciated the involvement of the different groupings and associations representing every sector of the industry and this open line of communication we want to ensure that it is maintained,” Minister Alain St.Ange said.

Source: Seychelles Ministry of Tourism & Culture
 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The trade should sack Raymond St Ange if it wants to be taken seriously. Chris will stick by St Ange because D'Offay appointed the latter. No one will take that lot seriously.

Anonymous said...

There is a small positive here and that is for the first time ever the Minster of Tourism and Transportation were present something we never seen before or rarely in the past.That St Ange aggred that direct flights to Europe must restart as Mr DÔffay and Chris asked is all a good sign,but it must be done as soon as possible.

I personally encourage St Ange and of concenred ministers to be more often present at such important meeting in the future for by having direct discussion and debates between goverenmnet and stake holders that we will move forward.

Moreover,The comportment of St Ange participating physically in the debate should follow suit in other departments,be it in regards to Eleltoral Reforms and the rests.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Correction:This a smalll positive move here by the governemnt.

Anonymous said...

St. Ange has carried out a program of staying connected with Tourism.

Morgan has agreed to do the same.

Other Ministers should do the same.

This is the only way we will all avoid pitfalls of bad decisions.

Anonymous said...

Raymond St Ange is a waste of space !

Anonymous said...

Direct scheduled flights from Europe ? Dream on ! Alain St Ange is making policies on the hoof. Doesn't this government have an air transportation policy ?

Etihad -- the national airline of the United Arab Emirates -- will never allow Air Seychelles to have direct flights to Europe. And for that matter, it will not allow any other airline to offer direct flights.

Tourists will have to transit through Abu Dhabi and change planes there.

With Air Seychelles' 4 weekly flights Mahe-Abu Dhabi and codesharing with Etihad, perhaps the stop-over in Abu Dhabi will be shortened, if Etihad is happy to transfer some of its passengers from Europe to Air Seychelles.

That's the best we will get. St Ange needs to stop making promises that he cannot keep.

St Ange needs to stop making tourism plans on the assumption that European tourists will get direct flights to Seychelles anytime soon.

The trade needs to stop making plans for more European tourists. Raymond St Ange must be sacked.

Anonymous said...

Tourism Master Plan?????

Air Transport Policy?????

Under 30 rooms reserved for Seychellois investors??????

Michel say something?

Anonymous said...

Well,there is nothing to do with dreaming here.We dreamt of having airline after independnet and we had it,unfortunately,mis-management,corruption,lack of accoutability and transparency has failed our airline.Having a direct flight to Europe is the key to our tourism industry and canot be repalce by flgiht via Dubai or elsewhere though those connection can help.Whever Pp likse it or not,should we want our tourism industry to grow and be effective thwere would need to have a direct flgiht to Europe,why?For European are and still the big market for tourism wolrdwide.It might take a while,and we will give St Ange and PP the time needed to sort out this problem but St Ange must also know that the more time it takes the owrse our tourism industry will become.So rapid solution must be found.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

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