No North expansion |24 June 2006

“We’ve got North Island at the moment. In the past (expansion) was spoken about, but we’re not looking at expanding,” said North Island General Manager Bruce Simpson, speaking recently on the 1,360 Euro, per person, per night, island hideaway.

And he also denied that Wilderness Safaris is involved in any negotiations to build a resort on Cosmoledo.

Dismissing recent media suggestions that the company has sent representatives to the outer island atoll, Mr Simpson said that, “the gentleman mentioned (in the article, Colin Bell) is one of the founders of Wilderness Safaris, but is no longer in the company.”

At present North Island is home to 11 luxury villas and plans to maintain the exclusivity of such a small resort have been compounded by the current expansion of the tourism industry.

Mr Simpson said that finding and retaining skilled and experienced Seychellois staff is difficult and that he expects it to become more so as current hotel building and refurbishment projects come on line.

North Island currently has a 56% Seychellois workforce.