PAPEETE (PINA) – French Polynesia’s President Gaston Flosse laid the foundation stone of a new hospitality school to strengthen training for Tahiti tourism.
The school at Punaauia, on the west coast of Tahiti, is being built because a school at Taaone has become too small, with nearly 580 students enrolled.
The new school will have 850 students, teachers and staff. It will also have boarding for 230 students from French Polynesia’s outer islands.
Built on a five-hectare site, set in a beautiful landscape, it is due to be ready for the beginning of the school year in August, 2003.
It will include four restaurants, seating 60 people each, two studios, two luxurious bungalows, 18 hotel rooms, and lecture theaters. The school should become the window of French Polynesian tourism, President Flosse said.
The building of the school will be financed 65% by the French State and 35% by French Polynesia.
President Flosse said: “Our hospitality school will be a tool adapted to the ambitions of our tourist industry.
“With the quality of its architecture and its equipment, this establishment will supply all the means to the professors to give students the best possible training.”
In spite of all the job opportunities, the hospitality industry doesn’t appeal enough to the young French Polynesians.
But industry people say the growth of the tourism is only at the beginning, with many hotel construction projects underway.
Said President Flosse: “This school is a precious asset for our tourist industry and a possibility for the young Polynesians who wish to get qualifications in this industry, as it offers many job opportunities.
“I do encourage them to grab this opportunity.”
