Sunset Beach Hotel to be upgraded to five-star |08 June 2016

The Sunset Beach Hotel at Glacis will be redeveloped into a five-star hotel.

In line with this, residents of the district were convened on Saturday to give their input in the project, which is expected to be completed in three years.

The project’s representative John Stravens said the new five-star hotel which will comprise 49 villas with 76 bedrooms, will employ mostly Seychellois workers.

“The hotel will comprise mostly Seychellois and will benefit the community of Glacis in terms of employment, entertainment and business opportunities, among others,” he said.

Saturday’s meeting, which took place at the Glacis community centre, last weekend was to meet the people who will be affected by the redevelopment of the hotel and discuss the impact on the environment that such project will have.

Present at the meeting were a representative from the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Louis Barbé, a representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, and Glacis residents.

The community of Glacis put forward various concerns about such a big project, such as access to the beach, impact on houses that the construction work will have, road diversion and drainage problems.

Mr Stravens said that Sunset Beach Hotel needs an upgrade to compete with other tourism establishments in the country.

“The hotel started as a small guest house and gradually we managed to upgrade our standard. But today there is a lot of competition in the tourism industry. Sunset needs an upgrade to cater for today’s discerning clients, and to compete with other five-star hotels in the country,” he added.

He said people who will be affected by the project, such as from the road diversion, could fill up a  complaint form so that necessary measures to address the issues can be taken.

Many residents at the meeting were against such project, claiming that it will destroy the environment and a piece of the history of the Glacis district.

According to Mr Stravens the new five-star hotel will provide employment opportunities, create a better business environment, provide crèche for staff members and entertainment for locals and tourists alike.