Tourism academy rewards long-serving staff |05 July 2017

To celebrate 10 years since its establishment under the Ministry of Tourism, the Seychelles Tourism Academy has rewarded 13 staff of 10 years and over for their length of service.

The award presentation was held on Monday at the La Misère based academy where a lunch was also hosted for the awardees, other staff and partners of STA as part of the celebration.

STA was established in 2007.

The Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, the principal secretary for tourism Anne Lafortune, the principal secretary for administration in the President’s Office Marie Claire Marie, the patron of STA Claud Narain and ISPC director Alfred Foucroy were among those present for the occasion.

All awardees were presented with a certificate by Minister Loustau-Lalanne, a certificate by PS Lafortune, cash price by Mr Narain, a bottle of Bottega Gold by Mr Foucroy and a hotel voucher sponsored by different hotels which the awardees had to pick themselves.

To also mark the occasion, a book with a thousand photos, showcasing the history of the STA, was launched and the editor Georgina Dhillon presented a copy to Minister Loustau-Lalanne.

Copies were also presented to other guests.

The principal of STA, Flavien Joubert, is the longest serving staff with over 40 years in tourism, 10 of which have been with the Academy.

Mr Joubert, who started as a lecturer in 1987 and later a principal at the hotel school in Bel Ombre before he left to venture into private overseas, said it was his passion for teaching, passion for young people and also passion for the tourism industry that had kept him in the tourism industry.

He was approached by government to help revive the school in 2007.

“It was challenging and very difficult and there were times I wanted to give up and go back to doing my private business but fortunately the authority, the staff and parents realised that we have to work together and things got into place and so from 2007 up to now we have recorded a lot of achievements,” he said.  

Senior coordinator Maime Louise with 27 years of service said it’s his love for the job that has kept him going for so long.

“I have developed love and passion for the young students and as you may know it demands great courage and patience to work with the youth nowadays. But I get great satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment when I see students that I have trained in the past, lecturing here at the academy,” he said.

Librarian Maggie Tirant with 25 years of service also said that the love for her job while being able to overcome obstacles had kept her for so many years in her job.

“I love my job and I will continue,” she said.

Other staff members rewarded for their length of service are receptionist Marie-May Emilie (20 years), housekeeper Paklina Bistoe (19 years), senior coordinator Murla Gabriel (18 years), head of studies Cecile Payet (18 years), procurement officer Cliff Morel (18 years), head gardener Daniel Augustin (17 years), head of studies Fadette Julienne (14 years), assistant director Philip Monthy (13 years) and head of studies Samentha Julie (11 years). Head of studies John Pleureuse with 27 years of service was not present at the ceremony.

Mr Narain, who hails from Constance Ephelia Mauritius, said that since the first signing of an MoU between STA and Constance Academy lots have been accomplished between the two entities which is still going on and they are very happy to see many staff at STA and students coming to Mauritius for training programmes.

“I must say a big bravo to all the lecturers who are working so hard for these students to come out successfully in their exams and we are trying to help them also to climb the ladder of success,” he said, urging the STA management to put people first on its agenda.     

In his speech to thank the staff for their loyalty and dedication, Minister Loustau-Lalanne said that transformation in the Seychelles Tourism Academy has been positive and has been result-oriented but more could have been done.

Minister Loustau-Lalanne outlined a six-point plan for STA to achieve greater height in the next ten years which he said he considered very important.

“First we need to improve the level of training and the scheme of service of all our staff at the tourism academy. We must continue with our advance programme with Shannon and other international partners. We need to forge closer ties with our loyal partners in the industry both local and overseas. Urgently we must complete phase one of our infrastructure master plan. We must budget, convince government and start phase two of our infrastructure master plan because this is what will create more revenue for the tourism academy in 2018. And the sixth plan is to grant full autonomy to the academy once the five things I stated earlier are pretty much in place.”

He thanked the management and staff of STA for their loyalty, support and dedication, the management for their tenacity and beliefs, board members and the patron for their leadership and all local and international partners for their trust.

“Let us celebrate today our accomplishments and start tomorrow with a determination of doing better and achieving bigger goals,” he concluded. 

The STA chairman John Stravens encouraged everybody associated with STA to use the opportunities to improve themselves as real professionals and to also use all opportunities to widen knowledge and experience so that in return the academy will get the best.