Africa-Press – Mauritius. Entrepreneurs of the Tourism Industry, who participated in the training on sanitary protocols as part of the Operation COSHARE (COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety and Resource Efficiency) project, were handed over certificates, this morning, at Sir Abdul Razack Mohamed Hall, in Phoenix.
The Executive Director of the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC), Mr Ashit Gungah, and the Director of the Tourism Authority (TA), Mr Lindsay Morvan, were present at the ceremony.
In his address, Mr Gungah recalled that the tourism sector is the lifeblood of the Mauritian economy and has undergone severe setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is therefore essential to reposition Mauritius on the world map as one of the most preferred destination, he stated. The Executive Director underlined that with the reopening of borders, travellers are more demanding with respect to health security and comfort.
In this context, there is a necessity to provide training to employees, from the smallest to the biggest enterprise, he added. Operation COSHARE, Mr Gungah highlighted, is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, the NPCC and the TA.
The project also benefits from the collaboration of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE).
The Executive Director pointed out that it will enable adaptation to the COVID-19 situation, adding that all stakeholders of the industry will be sensitised on sanitary protocols for the safety of guests and their own.
Furthermore, he underlined that the tourism industry will recover slowly but surely, without jeopardising the health of citizens, guests, and employees.
On this score, he indicated that as at now, more than 500 operators, working in the tourism and hospitality sector, as well as some 1 000 taxi drivers, based in hotels, have been trained under the Operation COSHARE project.
Some 1,700 participating enterprises of the tourism and hospitality sector are yet to be given training and will be provided with same before mid-December 2021 so as to adhere to the highest benchmarks related to sanitary measures, Mr Gungah announced.
For his part, Mr Morvan underlined that the Operation COSHARE project aims at positioning Mauritius as an attractive and reliable COVID-19 safe tourist destination and focuses on revisiting the current operational guidance and regulations in order to promote a more sustainable tourism sector.
In this context, the Director indicated that the Authority is spearheading the Sustainable Island Mauritius (SIM), an EU funded project launched in 2018, that aims at assisting and capacitating tour operators and their value chains for the successful greening of their operations for a more sustainable future for the industry.
Operation COSHARE
The objective of the project is to familiarise operators from the tourism and hospitality sector with the safety and sanitary needs and protocols for the safe opening of borders.
It also aims to help position Mauritius as a safe and environmentally sustainable tourist destination, attracting foreign visitors to make Mauritius their destination of choice.
The project incorporates a resource efficiency training and implementation as part of a Green Economic Recovery of Mauritius to support the tourism industry to “build back better”.
Target partners include hotels/ tourist residences/guesthouses, restaurants, pleasure craft operators, tourist guides, destination management companies, travel agencies, tourist attractions, beach hawkers, taxis based at hotels and airport, airport and organisations within airport, Mauritius Ports Authority, as well as all companies forming part of the value chain in the tourism and hospitality sector.
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