Seychelles today officially opened the 69th Meeting of the UN Tourism Regional Commission for Africa (CAF) at the Kempinski Seychelles Resort Baie Lazare, Seychelles, welcoming tourism leaders, government ministers, international organisations, development partners and industry experts from across the continent for three days of high-level discussions on the future of African tourism.<\/p>\n
The opening ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Seychelles, H.E. Dr. Patrick Herminie, who served as Guest of Honour, alongside the Secretary-General of UN Tourism, H.E. Shaikha Al Nuwais, the Minister for Tourism and Culture, H.E. Amanda Bernstein, Minister for Education and Human Resource Development, Mr. David Pierre, Minister for Employment and Human Resource Planning, Ms. Idith Alexander, the Speaker of the Seychelles National Assembly Honourable Azarel Ernesta, senior government officials, representatives of UN Tourism, and delegates from across Africa.<\/p>\n
Hosted by the Department of Tourism in collaboration with UN Tourism, the meeting is being held alongside the Thematic Conference on “Strengthening Human Capital to Boost Africa’s Tourism Growth.” The event brings together representatives from UN Tourism Member States, the private sector, academia and development partners to explore innovative approaches to developing a skilled tourism workforce while advancing a more resilient, competitive and sustainable tourism sector across Africa.<\/p>\n
The event was officially opened by Minister Amanda Bernstein and UN Tourism Secretary-General Shaikha Al Nuwais, while President Patrick Herminie delivered the keynote address, highlighting the importance of investing in people as the driving force behind Africa’s tourism success.<\/p>\n
In her opening remarks, Minister Bernstein welcomed delegates to Seychelles, reaffirming the country’s commitment to regional cooperation and emphasising that investing in human capital remains essential to building a thriving and future-ready tourism industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Africa prepares for the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism in 2027, we must ensure that human capital development occupies a central place within our tourism agendas. For Seychelles, one important lesson from our own experience is that workforce development must be guided by evidence. This is why we have established the LazioHRM workforce intelligence platform, which allows us to analyse workforce trends, identify skills gaps, support succession planning and make more informed policy decisions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The opening session featured the presentation of the latest UN Tourism survey findings on access to tourism education and human capital development across Africa, delivered by the UN Tourism Regional Director for Africa, Mrs. Elcia Grandcourt. Seychelles also shared its own experience through a case study on the country’s Tourism Human Resources Development Strategy, presented by the Principal Secretary for Tourism, Mrs. Sherin Francis.<\/p>\n
A high-level ministerial dialogue followed, bringing together tourism ministers, international tourism leaders and private sector representatives to discuss how human capital development can be better integrated into national tourism policies while promoting professional mobility and the mutual recognition of tourism qualifications across the continent.<\/p>\n
Throughout the day, delegates participated in a series of panel discussions exploring stronger partnerships between academia and industry, aligning tourism education with evolving market needs, expanding apprenticeship opportunities, and equipping Africa’s tourism workforce with the skills required to embrace sustainability, digital transformation and emerging technologies.<\/p>\n
The first day’s programme concluded with an authentic Seychellois cultural evening at Cap Lazare, offering delegates the opportunity to experience the country’s rich cultural heritage, warm hospitality and unique tourism offerings.<\/p>\n
Hosting the 69th Meeting of the UN Tourism Regional Commission for Africa further reinforces Seychelles’ position as a regional leader in sustainable tourism development and international cooperation. The event provides an important platform for African tourism leaders to strengthen collaboration and help shape a more resilient, inclusive and prosperous future for tourism across the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seychelles today officially opened the 69th Meeting of the UN Tourism Regional Commission for Africa (CAF) at the Kempinski Seychelles Resort Baie Lazare, Seychelles, welcoming tourism leaders, government ministers, international organisations, development partners and industry experts from across the continent for three days of high-level discussions on the future of African tourism. The opening ceremony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9125,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9124\/revisions\/9125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourism.gov.sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}