Badea supports tourism projects |13 April 2013

The support was extended to the Minister for Tourism and Culture Alain St Ange by the bank’s director general, Abdelaziz Khelef, who was on a working visit here recently.

“For us in Seychelles, tourism is not only hotels. The time has come for us to get investors – Seychellois or foreigners – to work with us to increase what we have as facilities on offer in our country. We need to be innovative and offer new attractions to encourage our visitors to spend their holiday dollar. With the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment and the Seychelles Investment Bureau (SIB) we need to join forces to intensify our campaign to get such new investments for Seychelles,” said Minister St Ange.

Mr Khelef said the Badea can help Seychelles by “conducting a series of presentations on proposed projects to potential foreign investors and with consultants with expertise in the specific domains Seychelles has to offer”.

Mr Khelef met Minister St Ange when he made a courtesy call to the offices of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture at the National Cultural Centre in Victoria as part of his four-day official mission in Seychelles.

Detailing the projects to Mr Khelef, Minister St Ange said “Seychelles’s vision of diversification of its products and of its services will increase visitor spending and in so doing increase the yield from tourism”.

“We need to be continuously innovative in our approach to bring new attractions to Seychelles that will encourage visitors to spend. The building of a water park for example with an aquarium and an underwater restaurant is a business proposition in its own right. A floating hotel and/or a floating restaurant could add value to what Seychelles today has to offer to its visitors. These will create additional attractions for our country. Investments in new such projects that are viable will only help to further boost our economy. We need to intensify our approach of diversifying our activities and our attractions,” said Minister St Ange.

Mr Khelef said that the Badea has been a strong partner of Seychelles by financing economically sound projects in the field of tourism and agriculture – two sectors which are pivotal to the country’s economy.

In the tourism sector, the Badea has supported the building of the new Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA). The first phase of this tourism academy of excellence needed to reflect what tourism is for the Seychelles economy. The Seychelles government has injected 20% of the total fund, while the Badea is financing the remaining 80% through a grant given to the Seychelles government.

Minister St Ange personally thanked Mr Khelef for believing in the project.
“When I took office as chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), one of my first missions was to bring to President James Michel’s attention the need for a new tourism academy that reflects the development in the tourism industry.

Today, as the minister responsible for tourism, I am indeed happy with the steady progress of the construction work on the new tourism academy and I am convinced that Seychelles will have an exemplary hospitality and tourism training institution – one that the country will be proud of. I am indeed thankful for your help and for helping to make it happen,’’ Minister St Ange told Mr Khelef.

Minister St Ange said he hopes the academy will get the necessary support to enable it to proceed with the construction of the second phase of the project upon completion of the first in 2014.

“In the second phase of the project we will complete the ‘Ecole d’Application’ – part of the academy where students will put into practice what they have learnt in the classrooms. This hotel will provide practical training at the academy itself and is an important part of training for our future hoteliers. The school will prepare the students to face the reality of working in our tourism establishments,” said Minister St Ange.

The minister has invited Mr Khelef for the official opening in 2014 of the first phase of the STA.
Mr Khelef also had the chance to tour the construction site at La Misère to see for himself the progress of work on the project.