Seychelles Tourism Academy reconstruction to get underway

The reconstruction of the Seychelles Tourism Academy has been long overdue. Upgrading works had been requested by the academy’s management and staff wanting the Tourism Academy to be more in line with the growing demands of the industry. The reconstruction of the Seychelles Tourism Academy had also been an undertaking pronounced by Seychelles President James Michel when he visited the establishment in 2008 after he had seen the ageing premises. After lengthy discussions with the academy’s management and lecturers, the Seychelles Tourism Board has now announced that it is ready to start the project, which is to be funded by a loan secured from BADEA.

The Seychelles Tourism Board, the main driver of the new “Seychelles brand” tourism vision, has the task of also ensuring that there are adequate qualified Seychellois professionals to work in the hospitality industry. The Tourism Board remains responsible for the management and operations of Seychelles Tourism Academy, which is presently the only tourism training institution in Seychelles.

The new Seychelles Tourism Academy will aim to become a national and regional academy of excellence specializing in hospitality and tourism training. The academy remains committed to research, quality of service innovation, and the development of the tourism industry in Seychelles. The academy nurtures a continuous learning environment for its students and staff to facilitate the realization of their optimum potential. It is for this reason that the Seychelles Tourism Board wants the academy to be well equipped with facilities to provide professional training and services for the future workforce of the tourism trade. The new Seychelles Tourism Academy project will provide the much-needed facilities to allow students to be trained and to be the future professionals who will contribute to raise the profile of Seychelles as a destination with outstanding service.

In December 2010, the management of the Seychelles Tourism Academy was involved in the future planning and actions to be taken for the academy to move forward in a workshop that had for its theme “Academic Innovation and Creativity Management” and the Strategic Plan 2011-2015 was finalized.

On April 25, 2010, the Seychelles Tourism Academy will officially launch their Strategic Plan 2011-2015 and present it to President James Michel who holds the tourism portfolio. The President will also on that day have the honor to perform the symbolic gesture of the groundbreaking of the new school project so that civil works can start for the reconstruction of the Seychelles Tourism Academy.

These two ceremonies will mark a very important milestone for the academy and for the Seychelles tourism industry.

The ceremony will be on Monday, April 25, 2011 at the Seychelles Tourism Academy campus, La Misere, at 1400 hours.