International consultants carry out studies in Seychelles
Seychelles recently welcomed two international consultants, David McEwen and Dr Anne Spenceley, who are preparing separate research papers on the country.
Mr McEwen, who is working in conjunction with another consultant, Oliver Bennett, is doing a value-chain analysis of Seychelles’ tourism industry. This project is initiated by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB).
The objective is to analyse and look at the possibilities of increasing opportunities and benefits to local residents through increased local involvement in tourism.
This project is already underway with Mr McEwen having met with various stakeholders including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Employment, National Statistics Bureau, Central Bank of Seychelles, Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association, Air Seychelles, Airline Operators Committee, Small Enterprise Promotions Agency, Seychelles Chamber of Commerce, Licensing Authority and STB.
Mr McEwen and Mr Bennett, who have carried several tourism studies in small island states and have strong expertise in tourism chain analysis, will be submitting the report in August this year.
Talking about their work here, Mr McEwen said that this study is empirical to the development of the country’s tourism industry.
“Since its initiation in the 70s, Seychelles tourism industry has done very well,” he said, adding that “we hope this analysis will contribute to more amazing opportunities for the Seychellois people.”
Dr Spenceley on her part was here to identify the training needs of Seychelles for the implementation of the COAST (Collaborative Action for Sustainable Tourism) project.
She met with different stakeholders in both the tourism and related fields to discuss areas of interest for training which look a bit more broadly at public information, knowledge building and awareness about sustainable tourism.
The project itself consists of three main areas – Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and certification, ecotourism and reef management – and personnel in Seychelles are expected to be trained in all three in order to better implement the activities agreed on.
Training will be held both locally and internationally, depending on the needs and availability of expertise on the ground here.
Dr Spenceley has already compiled a pool of local specialists in each area who can train others and in circumstances where there are no expertise locally, then to have specialists from overseas come over.
She would now submit her report to the COAST secretariat.