The Seychelles Tourism Minister visited La Digue and was pleased with the high standard of the accommodation

The Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, said this on Friday last week after inspecting the tourist properties at the Island had visited, as part of his ongoing door-to-door visits to holiday homes in the Seychelles.

This was his first official visit to La Digue, the third largest inhabited island in Seychelles, since he took over the tourism portfolio in December last year.

Accompanied by the Secretary General for Tourism, Ms Anne Lafortune, they visited 14 tourism businesses - from a one-bedroom self-catering flat to a 70-room hotel - from brand new accommodations to those that have been established for years.

The visit was an opportunity to see if the properties met the required standards and to better appreciate their successes and limitations.

In Anse Gaulette, the minister and his team started at Le Relax Luxury Lodge - a small hotel with six villas and Lakaz an Bwa - a two-bedroom self-catering. Both are fairly new to the market, which has opened in the last two years.

Owned by Gerald Iglesias and his wife - a retired couple from France - Lakaz and Bwa, built entirely from local wood, is an example of a tourism enterprise on La Digue that has made an effort to showcase Creole architecture.

Granite Self-Catering in La Passe was the smallest establishment visited. Owned by Sylvia Adrienne, who worked in the tourism industry for several years before moving into her own business, the one-bedroom self-catering flat is more like family accommodation.

During his time in La Passe, the Minister visited Chez Ahmed - a two-bedroom self-catering accommodation, Kot Babi - a nine-bedroom guesthouse that has been operating for 14 years, and La Digue self-catering accommodation, which has six studio flats on the first floor of the recently built Mills Complex.

Chez Marston is a small five-room hotel with a restaurant that has been in existence for just over 25 years, which the Minister visited in La Passe, where he met with the owner Marston St Ange, who is well known in La Digue. Directly opposite Chez Marston, Mr Loustau-Lalanne stopped at the construction site of a new five-room hotel that Mr José St Ange plans to open in November this year.

The delegation then went to the La Digue Island Lodge in Anse Reunion - the largest establishment to be visited. Mr Gregoire Payet's 70-room hotel has been standing for about 45 years.

They were welcomed by the owner's daughter, Mrs Brigitte Payet, who said that the hotel was very popular with honeymooners, while she presented ongoing work to improve the standard of the hotel.