Tourism minister conducts first visit to establishments in 2024   |13 January 2024

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, resumed his weekly visits to small tourism establishments yesterday in the Anse à la Mouche and Anse aux Poules Bleues region.

The minister was accompanied by the principal secretary for Tourism, Sherin Francis, and the director general for Destination Marketing, Bernadette Willemin.

They toured eight self-catering villas namely Isla Holiday Home, Hillside Retreat, Beau Basin Inn, Kanasuk Self-Catering Apartment, Paul’s Residence, Michael Adams Art Studio, Pineapple Beach Villas and Zeph Self-Catering, where the owners shared their daily experience, achievements as well as concerns.

The two main concerns raised throughout the visit were the amount of garbage dumped along the roads in the region and issues with employment.

“The only problem I have so far is in regards to employment; I only need casuals and sometimes employees just leave without saying a word,” shared Anne Lise Platt, owner of Hillside Retreat.

“There are just too much garbage near the bins and it is not something that my guests want to see. They complain a lot about it but there is not much I can do,” said Monique Hermitte, owner of Isla Holiday Home.

On the issue of overflowing of bins, Mr Radegonde stated that his ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment and Landscape and Waste Management Agency (LWMA), had already agreed to have a discussion about the matter.

“Garbage alongside the roads, the same as stray dogs, noises, theft, harassment of visitors are all challenges that need to be addressed,” said Mr Radegonde, adding it was a nationwide issue and the whole country should come together to eliminate them instead of relying on government and other organisations.

Throughout this visit, it was apparent that most visitors in those establishments came from Russia, Germany and Ukraine.

“For the time being, most of our visitors are from Russia and Ukraine since it is Orthodox Christmas,” explained Amelie Johnson, owner of Pineapple Beach Villas.

“We were busy during Christmas and new year. We also have a Russian family that has been here for almost a month,” shared Anne Basthilde, a worker who has been with Kanasuk Self-Catering Apartment for five years.

Mr Radegonde was particularly impressed with Paul Sinon, owner of Paul’s Residence who set up his residence without outside help. “I was happy we visited Mr Sinon as he started his own thing and did not ask help from the government,” said Mr Radegonde.

This year the ministry in collaboration with the Small Hotels and Establishments Association plans to offer a training programme to small self-catering businesses to advise them on issues such as their prices, marketing and designs. “I hope that we would be able to conduct this training by the middle of the year.”

The minister will maintain his weekly visits to the establishments and plans to cover all of them on the three main islands during the year.

He described yesterday’s five-hour tour as successful. “Today I am a very happy Minister for Tourism,” concluded Mr Radegonde.

Our selection of photos shows some of the places Minister Radegonde and his delegation visited yesterday.

Anika Cathene

Photos by Kurtrine Albert