French Embassy sends tens of thousands of euros to Seychelles Tourism Academy

The French Embassy in Seychelles has disbursed a supplementary 23,000 euros for the Seychelles Tourism Academy in support of a linguistic accord between the two entities.

The French Embassy in Seychelles has disbursed a supplementary 23,000 euros for the Seychelles Tourism Academy in support of a linguistic accord between the two entities.

In order to help the institute attain its bilingual goal of having 50% of its subjects taught in French and 50% in English, in 2014, following the signing of a linguistic accord between the French Embassy and the Seychelles Tourism Academy, a sum of 17,670 euros was disbursed to the academy.

The fund covered the training cost of 19 Seychelles Tourism Academy lecturers to sit for their โ€œDiplome Elementaire dans la Langue Francaiseโ€ level one and two. It also contributed to bring expertise from Reunion to the Seychelles Tourism Academy to start preparations for the teaching in 2016 of 50% of its courses in French.

The supplementary disbursement of 23,000 euros was disclosed by Lionel Majeste-Larroy, the French ambassador to Seychelles, in the presence of Alain St.Ange, Minister for Tourism and Culture; Principal Secretary for Tourism, Anne Lafortune; the Chief Executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Sherin Naiken, and the Principal of the Seychelles Tourism Academy, Flavien Joubert.

Ambassador Majeste-Larroy stressed the importance of the French market to Seychelles, which he said its growth is a positive sign for Seychelles. He said for Seychelles hoteliers to keep providing a high-quality service to the French clientele, it is important that professionals in the tourism industry are equipped with the right training.

โ€œThe supplementary disbursement of 23,000 will help to increase quality of training at the Academy and respond to Seychelles niche tourism market,โ€ he said.

The additional 23,000 euros which comes from the French Regional Cooperation Fund (FCR) will cover expenses of 10 Seychelles Tourism Academy lecturers to be trained in Reunion. It will also finance the continuity of the Reunion expert mission at the academy to prepare the institution to start its bilingual courses in 2016.

Minister St.Ange said the sum will ensure the French find its rightful place in the academyโ€™s curriculum.

โ€œToday is a good day for the academy, because we have been able to work to ensure French language find its rightful place at the institution. We were teaching French as a subject. Over the years, we have realized the need to embark on a bilingual project to have 5 % of the courses at the academy taught in the French language and 50% in English.โ€

Minister St.Ange said much effort is being put on having 50% of the courses taught in French at the academy because of the importance of the French language and also because France remains a main tourism source market for Seychelles.

โ€œFrance remain Seychelles main tourism source market. As a country weโ€™ve invested heavily to grow this market, and we need to professionalize our approach to keep the French clientele happy and the market profitable,โ€ the Minister said.

He said the French embassyโ€™s support to Seychelles Tourism Academy and Ministry of Tourism and Culture is a win-win for all parties concern.

โ€œThis close partnership solidifies and strengthens the ability of the academy to deliver for the country,โ€ Minister St.Ange concluded.

Seychelles is a founding member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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