New tourism minister visits Praslin establishments |08 February 2017

The new Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, made his first visit to a number of tourism establishments on Praslin last Friday.

Minister Loustau-Lalanne, who was attending a meeting chaired by Vice-President Vincent Meriton with small business operators on Praslin, was accompanied by the principal secretary for tourism Anne Lafortune and for civil aviation, ports and marine Garry Albert.

They visited five tourism establishments in the Anse Kerlan area – Village du Voyageur, Constance Lemuria, The Islander, Castello Beach Hotel and Villa Castello and the Chateau Sans Souci.

During the visit, proprietors of these establishments raised a number of concerns such as the need to introduce a trail guide map with all the necessary contacts and trails’ details that could be placed in all tourism establishments.

This can prevent incidences which have occurred recently where clients lose their way while on trails. There were also concerns regarding lack of foot access to beaches especially at Anse Kerlan.

On a good note, the establishments’ owners have expressed their satisfaction with the increase in occupancy late last year and some informed that this year their occupancy level is actually picking up.

Others were happy to inform of an increase in the number of repeat visitors to their establishments.

The main target markets of the visited establishments are from European countries, comprising 80% from Germany followed by France and Italy. One other market where they are also doing well is South Africa.