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Seychelles present at Access Luxury Travel Show Workshop in capital city of Czech Republic

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The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) was present at the seventh Edition of the Access Luxury Travel Show Workshop held on Monday March 11, 2019, at the Kaiserstejnsky Palac in the city of Prague.


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The opportunity gave the STB team the chance to meet major partners on the Czech market, which is one of the strongest economies in Central Europe and has shown growing interest in luxury travel over the past few years.

The workshop, which was attended by about 86 participants including Tour Operators, Travel Agents and airline companies was a series of pre-scheduled one on one meetings, presentations and free flow workshop. The evening ended with a networking cocktail and a Raffle draw.

Ms. Myra Fanchette, Paris based STB Senior Marketing Executive represented the organisation at the event, during which she presented Seychelles as a multi-faceted holiday destination offering a plethora of possibilities for leisure and relaxation.

The Destination’s representative through STB, stood alongside 19 other exhibitors including the Constance Hotels & Resorts, few Destination Management Companies, hotel representative from Maldives and the Jamaica Tourism Board.

Ms. Fanchette mentioned that STB’s participation at the Access Luxury Travel Show Workshop opened doors for new business relationships between the service providers from the Czech Republic and STB.

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“It was an ideal platform for STB to meet with new Travel Agencies and Tour Operators, which so far Seychelles does not appear in their portfolio and they have demonstrated great interest in new destinations. We also maximised on our presence at the event to meet with our existing partners who wanted to know about any latest developments on the destination and discussed plans and activities for the year,” said Ms. Fanchette.

The Czech Republic has seen an increase of 43% on the visitor’s arrival from January to March 2019, compared to the same period last year. This is very encouraging and our continuous efforts to enhance the growth on the Eastern European markets are ongoing with various activities planned for the year, the next STB appearance will be on a dedicated Eastern Europe Roadshow, which will be held from May 27 to 30, 2019 in four different cities.

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Wizz Air: Now flying from Krakow to Tel Aviv

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Wizz Air is set to launch new direct flights between Krakow, Poland, and Tel Aviv, Israel, in September 2019.

The new flight route is set to begin operating on September 16, 2019, offering 4 weekly flights operated on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Wizz Air is the largest low-cost company in Central and Eastern Europe and also offers other direct flights to Tel Aviv from European cities, including Budapest, Varna, London-Luton, Kosice, Lublin, and Craiova.

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UNWTO: International tourist arrivals reach 1.4 billion two years ahead of forecasts

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UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili

International tourist arrivals grew 6% in 2018, totalling 1.4 billion according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. UNWTO’s long term forecast issued in 2010 indicated the 1.4 billion mark would be reached in 2020, yet the remarkable growth of international arrivals in recent years has brought it two years ahead.

International tourist arrivals up 6% in 2018

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UNWTO estimates that worldwide international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased 6% to 1.4 billion in 2018, clearly above the 3.7% growth registered in the global economy.

In relative terms, the Middle East (+10%), Africa (+7%), Asia and the Pacific and Europe (both at +6%) led growth in 2018. Arrivals to the Americas were below the world average (+3%).

“The growth of tourism in recent years confirms that the sector is today one of the most powerful drivers of economic growth and development. It is our responsibility to manage it in a sustainable manner and translate this expansion into real benefits for all countries, and particularly, to all local communities, creating opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship and leaving no one behind” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. “This is why UNWTO is focussing 2019 on education, skills and job creation.”, he added.

UNWTO’s long-term forecast published in 2010 predicted the 1.4 billion mark of international tourist arrivals for 2020. Yet stronger economic growth, more affordable air travel, technological changes, new businesses models and greater visa facilitation around the word have accelerated growth in recent years.

Results by region

International tourist arrivals in Europe reached 713 million in 2018, a notable 6% increase over an exceptionally strong 2017. Growth was driven by Southern and Mediterranean Europe (+7%), Central and Eastern Europe (+6%) and Western Europe (+6%). Results in Northern Europe were flat due to the weakness of arrivals to the United Kingdom.

Asia and the Pacific (+6%) recorded 343 million international tourist arrivals in 2018. Arrivals in South-East Asia grew 7%, followed by North-East Asia (+6%) and South Asia (+5%). Oceania showed more moderate growth at +3%.

The Americas (+3%) welcomed 217 million international arrivals in 2018, with mixed results across destinations.

Growth was led by North America (+4%), and followed by South America (+3%), while Central America and the Caribbean (both -2%) reached very mixed results, the latter reflecting the impact of the September 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Data from Africa points to a 7% increase in 2018 (North Africa at +10% and Sub-Saharan +6%), reaching an estimated 67 million arrivals.

The Middle East (+10%) showed solid results last year consolidating its 2017 recovery, with international tourist arrivals reaching 64 million.

Growth expected to return to historical trends in 2019

Based on current trends, economic prospects and the UNWTO Confidence Index, UNWTO forecasts international arrivals to grow 3% to 4% next year, more in line with historic growth trends.

As a general backdrop, the stability of fuel prices tends to translate into affordable air travel while air connectivity continues to improve in many destinations, facilitating the diversification of source markets. Trends also show strong outbound travel from emerging markets, especially India and Russia but also from smaller Asian and Arab source markets.

At the same time, the global economic slowdown, the uncertainty related to the Brexit, as well as geopolitical and trade tensions may prompt a “wait and see” attitude among investors and travelers.

Overall, 2019 is expected to see the consolidation among consumers of emerging trends such as the quest for ‘travel to change and to show’, ‘the pursuit of healthy options’ such as walking, wellness and sports tourism, ‘multigenerational travel’ as a result of demographic changes and more responsible travel.

“Digitalization, new business models, more affordable travel and societal changes are expected to continue shaping our sector, so both destination and companies need to adapt if they want to remain competitive”, added Pololikashvili.