"It was 1962 when the first hotel on the Costa Smeralda, the Cala di Volpe, opened; at the time, not a single Sardinian knew anything about tourism."
With these words, Mario Ferraro, CEO of Smeralda Holding, opened his speech this morning at the Ama Auditorium in Arzachena, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of IPSAR, the local hotel management institute.
"To inaugurate that hotel," Ferraro continued, "the Aga Khan brought staff from Swiss mountain hotels: the managers, heads of department, and all the staff were Swiss. However, with his far-sighted vision, he immediately understood that to develop a solid tourism economy, it was first necessary to create a culture of tourism. For this reason, from the very beginning, he strongly supported the opening of a professional hotel management institute that would train young Sardinians and make them protagonists in the tourism history of the Costa Smeralda. Thus, in 1965, he sponsored the institute."
Today, Ferraro emphasized, "Almost all Sardinians work in hotels in Switzerland! A full 80% of our group's employees are Sardinian, and 50% of our 2,000 employees have studied at this institute. IPSAR has trained the world's top hospitality professionals: the managers of our most prestigious hotels have graduated from here. I can proudly say that the institute represents a center of excellence that has contributed to the international success of the Costa Smeralda, making it one of the most exclusive tourist destinations."
The ceremony was attended, among others, by the mayor of Arzachena, Roberto Ragnedda, the vice president of the Region, Giuseppe Meloni, the headmaster Antonello Pannella, teachers and former students of the institute.