Cat Cocos join hands with La Misère school to launch Lospitalite club |27 February 2023

The La Misère school officially launched its Lospitalite-Lafyerte Sesel tourism club at the Domaine de L’Orangerie hotel, La Digue, on Saturday, with the support of Inter Island Boats.

The school is the last to launch its club and to be adopted by a tourism-related business, as part of the campaign launched a year ago with the aim of encouraging an excellent service and hospitality culture in Seychelles.

Some 35 students, members of the school’s existing Tourism Club were treated to the La Digue trip aboard the Cat Cocos ferry, and were joined by teachers and school management, as well as officials from the Tourism department for the launch.

School head teacher Flavie Jupiter noted that the school will be able to achieve much more and to boost interest and motivation among all students, with the Cat Cocos adoption, by providing them an opportunity to explore the vast tourism sector which is traditionally thought of as being limited to hotels and restaurants.

The club was launched in 2020 and has over the past year become more active, organising a number of activities.

Ticketing and sales manager of Cat Cocos, Magdalena Cecile, will be supporting the school to realise a number of activities including tours aboard their iconic ferries, among others which will give them a better insight into the whole business itself, and the various departments which make up its operations.

Other activities will include guided tours, educational sessions about the maritime life, the vegetation, flora and fauna of Seychelles, and other attractions.

“Irrespective of whether our clients are foreigners or Seychellois, we need to show them all the warm hospitality,” Ms Cecile stated.

The Cat Cocos ferry service caters to a diverse clientele, 365 days a year.

Ms Cecile added that the chairman of Inter Island Boats, Joseph Albert, is also supportive of the initiative, as a firm believer in offering impeccable service to all clients within the tourism industry, the biggest contributor towards the domestic economy.

For his part, the Minister for Foreign Affairs & Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, thanked Cat Cocos for adopting the school, and commended the school for the level of discipline among the students.

He expressed satisfaction at what has been achieved thus far through the campaign. This component of the Lospitalite campaign which is targeted at the youths, seeks to instil in them a deep-set understanding of the importance of the tourism industry to the domestic economy, so they will eventually want to join and remain in the sector.

“We want a change of attitude in our country, for people to really be conscious of the importance of tourism for the economy, for them to understand that without tourists, the speed at which we will advance will take longer. Tourism is extremely important, and is everyone’s business.”

While he acknowledged the contributions of non-Seychellois to the industry in helping to fill the human resource and skills gaps, the ultimate goal remains for the industry to be owned by Seychellois, Minister Radegonde added.

“Today, in Seychelles, our tourism industry is not necessarily entirely in our hands. This is not entirely a bad thing. At this stage of development we need foreign investors to invest in tourism businesses, be it hotels, restaurants, and for whatever activities, we need foreigners. The same applies for different services and sections within hotels and restaurants, we need foreigners, but as they help us out today, the plan is to eventually be able to push, and have enough Seychellois to grasp the industry,” he stated.

Also present for the launch were director general for product development within the department of Tourism, Paul Lebon, and principal secretary for education services Merna Eulentin.

During the ceremony, the students put on a variety of performances.

They were also treated to a tour of the hotel, and lunch as part of the launch.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the launch ceremony.

Laura Pillay

Photos by Joena Meme