Private sector takes tourism lead |04 April 2005

The bill, which merges the functions of the Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority (STMA) with the Department of Tourism, under a private sector dominated board, was given the go ahead by the National Assembly on Tuesday morning.

In his first interview since the bill received a unanimous yes vote, the head of the new organisation, Sylvestre Radegonde welcomed the prominence it gives the private sector.

"STB will be a joint government venture with the private sector. Of the board of eleven, 6 members will be from the private sector," he said.

Mr Radegonde, the former Foreign Affairs principal secretary, said that, "operationally (the STB) will bring together, under one roof, the marketing arm and the product development side," by combining the functions of the STMA and Tourism Department.

But despite the sweeping changes taking place in the tourism sector, Mr Radegonde said that the Vision 21 ten year policy guide will remain the cornerstone of the STB.

And while the new board's marketing strategy will continue to push Seychelles in the traditional primary markets, such as France and the UK, and secondary markets, like Switzerland and South Africa, it will also target what Mr Radegonde termed the "emerging markets."

He said that the areas such as the former Soviet bloc countries, as well as India, China and Japan would be given increased attention.

Asked about his goals for the STB Mr Radegonde said, "I hope that we will be able to bring Seychelles to the level that it should be at, both in terms of the product and in terms of visitor numbers."

The new STB head also promised a thorough review of current strategy.

Mr Radegonde acknowledged that there had been debate about the use of black and white photography for promotional materials, as well as the use of the slogan, "As pure as it gets," over the former label, "Unique by a thousand miles."

"Nothing will be taboo. We will look at this as a board and if there is a need for a change we will do it," he said.

Despite the far reaching organisational changes Mr Radegonde said that there would be no forced redundancies with the reorganisation, before saying that the STB, "will be a very dynamic organisation" which cannot afford to be too bureaucratic.

Describing the STB as action oriented and proactive, Mr Radegonde said that the 100 plus staff from STMA and the Tourism Department will be retained, but only if they come up to scratch.

"I am not convinced we need that many people to get the work done, but I am willing to take them on, allow them to prove themselves, but those that cannot perform will have to move on."

Next week staff from the Tourism Department will begin the migration from Independence House to the former STMA offices in Bel Ombre.

"We hope by the end of the year to have all of our staff under one roof," said Mr Radegonde.

In order to create the space for the former Department of Tourism staff to move into the old STMA offices, the former restaurant on the second floor of the Bel Ombre building will be converted into additional work space.

The upgrade is likely to require some careful cost control and Mr Radegonde said that there will be no additional funds for the year, above the budgets allocated to the Department of Tourism and STMA.

One area in which savings will be made comes with the resignation of former STMA head, Francis Savy.

Mr Savy, who was put in charge of the STMA at its creation five years ago, was originally appointed as an adviser to the STB, but has resigned the post with effect from Thursday this week.

"For me its the end of STMA. I had no intention of serving much more than the five years since the inception and this marks the start of a new phase," Mr Savy said on Friday, adding that he will now, "take up new challenges in the private sector."

The other tourism special adviser, Marc Marengo, stays on as adviser to the minister.

captions:
Out goes: STMA head Francis Savy
In comes: STB supremo Sylvestre Radegonde