The Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Minister Didier Dogley accompanied by the Principal Secretary for Tourism, Anne Lafortune and the Director for Tourism Human Resource Development, Diana Quatre visited graduates of Shannon College at their current place of employment as part of a mentoring initiative, following a resolution at the last committee meeting held in December 2018.
The visit was conducted at four different hotels, namely the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles, Kempinski Seychelles Resort, AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa and the Constance Ephelia Seychelles on Monday 15th April 2019.
The purpose of the visit was to meet with graduates of Shannon College who are working in the hotels of Seychelles and establish a communication channel between the graduates and the Ministry.
The first hotel to be visited was the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles employing the largest cohort, comprising of 7 Shannon graduates. This was followed by Kempinski Seychelles Resort & Spa with two graduates, Avani Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa with one graduate and the Constance Ephelia Seychelles with 3 Shannon graduates.
During the visit, graduates were given the opportunity to express their views, in the presence of their hotel managers. The main point of discussion was centred on the minimum salary and career progression within the hospitality industry. Overall the graduates in the four hotels were satisfied with their working condition and the opportunity offered to develop their career further.
Minister Dogley stated that “The visits of the Shannon graduates in their workplace and the meetings held with their General Managers provided an excellent opportunity for me to learn about the progress they have made as professionals in the hospitality industry. Most of them had clear career paths and personal development programs.
It was a real pleasure and an eye opener to discover that the majority of them are already working as managers in some of our top brand hotels. This in itself shows that the vision government had for more well-trained and highly skilled Seychellois to take leadership roles in our hospitality industry is becoming a reality.”
The Ministerial delegation will also be visiting graduates from the other tourism establishments in order to provide similar opportunities for interaction. These visits are in line with the goal of the Ministry to ensure that the tourism sector is equipped with qualified individuals and shall endeavour to continue to assist graduates in achieving their dreams of progression to senior positions within the hotel industry.
To date, there are 74 Shannon College graduates who have gone through this programme.