Tourism Seychelles and Qatar Airways Unite Forces to Charm Swiss Media and Travel Trade

Tourism Seychelles and airline partner Qatar Airways have intensified their efforts to reinforce the destination’s visibility in Switzerland by organizing a meeting with travel, media, and industry professionals in Zurich on Thursday, September 23.

The in-person event, held at the Savoy Baur en Ville in Zurich, featured a press conference held over breakfast, and a lunch meeting attracting 12 media partners and 15 product managers.

Led by Mrs. Bernadette Willemin, Director General of Marketing for Tourism Seychelles, and Mr. Antonio Panariello, Commercial Manager Switzerland at Qatar Airways, the two events aimed to keep their partners abreast of developments in Seychelles, safety measures, new attractions, as well as the latest news from Qatar Airways and flight schedules to Seychelles.

Speaking from Zurich, Mrs Willemin confirmed that Tourism Seychelles is gearing up for the next phase of recovery for the destination, which last weekend recorded its 100,000th visitor for the year.

“As life slowly returns to normal, vaccination is peaking in Europe, and around the world restrictions on movement and travel are being eased. Airlines are resuming their services and with Seychelles’ own population enjoying one of the highest rates of vaccination in the world, Tourism Seychelles is also now able to resume the promotional activities on its calendar. Numerous activities are happening in all our markets. Today’s event in Switzerland, which we held in collaboration with Qatar Airways, is to reinforce our presence on the market and reassure our partners that connectivity to our small islands is available,” Mrs. Willemin said.

Antonio Panariello, Commercial Manager Switzerland at Qatar Airways said: “It was a great pleasure to be here today and host this event together with the Tourism Seychelles. The links between Qatar Airways and the Seychelles are strong and important. This destination is of great interest to the Swiss market, and we are proud we can promote this destination together with Tourism Seychelles.”

On a positive note, the media and partners in attendance at both events commended the Seychelles government and the industry at large for their consistency and excellent communication skills during the pandemic.

The event follows a recent press trip in Seychelles sponsored by the Qatar Airways Switzerland office and which was supported by hotel partners Constance Lemuria Resort, STORY Seychelles, Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa and Kempinski Seychelles Resort.

Seychelles completed the reopening of its borders to foreign visitors on March 25, 2021. Switzerland has to date this year contributed a 3% market share of total visitor arrivals.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tourism Seychelles, stbnews@seychelles.travel