AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa officially opens |16 March 2015

Tourism minister announces grading system for hotels in Seychelles

The Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St Ange, has announced that the time has come for Seychelles to introduce a grading system for hotels on the islands. He said this will be presented to the cabinet of ministers soon.

The minister made this announcement on Satudrady evening during the official opening of the AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa.
Vice-President Danny Faure had the honour of unveiling the plaque to officially open the resort.

Other guests present at the ceremony were the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture Wallace Cosgrow, the Member of the National Assembly for the Grand Anse Mahé district Lenny Lebon, high officials of both the government of Seychelles and the AVANI hotel.

In his speech Minister St Ange said the grading process will start next year and that the hotels will be allowed a lee time before implementation.

He said for the government of Seychelles it was a pleasing day to see that a hotel which has been here for many many years has been rebuilt and revamped and reopened as a new property under a new brand.

He said when the decision was taken to close the former Le Meridien Barbarons Hotel, the government needed something that will make Seychelles proud; it wanted a Seychelles brand, hence a new inclusive approach to tourism.

AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa falls under the Minor Group of Hotels and also has Currimjee Jeewanjee & Co Ltd as partners who were also present at the official opening.

Minor International was represented by its chairman and CEO William E. Heinecke and Currimjee by its managing director Anil Currimjee.

As part of Minor Hotel Group's global expansion of diverse quality brands, AVANI Hotels & Resorts was launched in late 2011 in Sri Lanka as a refreshing upscale hotel concept, to consolidate the group's presence in city and resort locations across Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and Africa.