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Seychelles represented at a Corporate Travel Planners Roadshow in Abu Dhabi

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Maximizing its exposure in the Middle East, the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) participated in a Corporate Travel Planners Roadshow held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

The roadshow, which took place on November 20, 2019 was organised by dnata Abu Dhabi with the objective of connecting the corporate travel bookers to the key service facilitators.

The event saw the participation of over 90 key travel planners/bookers from dnata’s prestigious corporate account and 20 exhibitors providing various travel services including airlines, hotel chains and tourism boards. This involved the STB featuring Seychelles as a versatile destination of choice in the Indian Ocean.

The Corporate Travel Planner Roadshow attracted mainly frequent travellers from the corporate world such as travel managers, procurement managers and travel officers all keen to keep abreast with the services available on the market.

The destination was represented by Ms. Aliette Esther, Tourism Attaché based in Abu Dhabi, and was assisted in promoting the Seychelles in the roadshow by Cerf Island Resort representative Mrs. Foram Varsani.  Both were working in unison to provide information about the destination. Mrs. Varsani also used the opportunity to explain about the facilities and activities available to potential clients at the Cerf Island Resort.  

Commenting on the STB’s participation at the event Ms. Esther explained that it falls in line with STB’s strategy for visibility as well as educating its partners.

 ‘It is important to be constantly on the road to promote the destination especially in this day and age where the competition is tough. It is important also to keep managing our relationship vis-à-vis our travel trades partners and update their knowledge of our destination. This can be achieved by reminding partners that Seychelles is a versatile destination, which also includes services for the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) segments,” said Ms. Esther. 

 “I had a fruitful visit to Abu Dhabi to attend two events which took place on 20th & 21st November. I am pleasantly surprised to see the marketing & awareness, which is done by STB  as I found great number of corporate and tourism establishments interested in the destination.

I am very grateful for all the help and support I received during my visit from Aliette to draw more business to our shores.” Mrs Foram Varsani said.

‘At the moment, the UAE is the 5th biggest market for the Seychelles.’ Ms Esther said. ‘Roadshows such as this one will certainly help in getting the UAE to climb a notch higher on the ladder.  At the end of the day, the more visitors we get, whether it be from the UAE or any other parts of the world, the ultimate benefactors are the Seychellois people.  In the process, we will be sharing some of the beauty and culture of our islands with the visitors. It is a win-win situation all around. We look forward to participating in similar events in the future.’

According to the latest Knight Frank’s 2018 City Wealth Index, Abu Dhabi is the richest city in the GCC.

Ms. Esther further mentioned that the affluence in Abu Dhabi and the regular daily flights availability -3 times a day from the two UAE hubs (Abu Dhabi and Dubai), a 4-hour flying time make the city an excellent place to market the destination. 

With the five-day long National Day holiday coming up at the end of November early December, the roadshow was well timed and Ms. Esther and Mrs. Varsani at the STB and Cerf Island Resort were kept busy answering questions about attractions and activities on the islands of Seychelles.

MEDIA CONTACT: STB News Bureau, Tel: +248 4 671 354 / +248 4 671 313, [email protected]  www.seychelles.travel

Seychelles strengthens GCC reach through a four-city roadshow

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The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), through its office in Dubai, in partnership with Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways, has embarked its fourth edition of the Four-City Roadshow staged in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait and Doha Qatar in October this year.

The roadshow comprised of a strong delegation including the representative of the STB Office in Dubai, Mr. Ahmed Fathallah; STB Marketing Executive from Headquarters, Ms. Winnie Elisa and   the Embassy of the Republic of Seychelles Tourism Attaché, Aliette Esther.

His Excellency Ambassador Jean Claude Adrienne, Seychelles Ambassador based in Abu Dhabi attended the roadshow in the same city.

Several partners from the Seychelles tourism industry supported the 4- day event in the various cities, which provided an increased visibility to the archipelago while promoting their brands and services.

These included AVANI Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa, Constance Hotels, Hilton Hotels, MAIA Luxury Resort and Spa, Le Duc de Praslin, Castello Beach Hotel, Valmer Resort, Raffles Seychelles, The H Resort on the accommodation side.

Luxury Travel, Masons Travel, and Vision Voyages and Coco Charter represented the destination management companies and operator’s side.

In each city, the GCC roadshow gathered a roster from Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways team both official partners for the roadshow.

The four-city roadshow, which aimed at enticing the participants to learn more about the destination, recorded the presence of over 200 top trade partners. 

The event, targeted top trade partners in each city where all participants were given the chance to network with the exhibitors and understand the dynamics of the destination including Seychelles being a unique product as a multifaceted holiday destination, the diverse services and experiences the Seychelles offers and packages.

Speaking about the event, Account Manager for STB office in Dubai, Mr. Ahmed Fathallah, conveyed his appreciation in regards to the turnout, which indirectly translates, to their incessant interest to know more about the destination.

Mr. Fathallah further mentioned that the outstanding number of participants signifies the demand partners in the GCC cities receive from potential holidaymakers to Seychelles.

“We always ensure that the roadshow is included in our activity pipeline since we see it as an effective avenue to equip the travel agents and tour operators in the region with further information to better sell and become ambassadors to the destination,” said Mr. Fathallah.

As part of the promotional activities, attendees of the GCC event had an opportunity to win several prizes including trips to the tropical islands, at the end of the workshop in each city.

MEDIA CONTACT: STB News Bureau, Tel: +248 4 671 354 / +248 4 671 313, [email protected]  www.seychelles.travel

The Seychelles kicks off the autumn season with the Nordic Roadshow

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The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) embarked on the sixth edition of the Nordic Roadshow from September 23-27, 2019. The delegation, which included hotels, Destination Management Companies (DMCs) and airlines, travelled to five Nordic cities; Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and Gothenburg.

A strong delegation from the Seychelles attended the Nordic roadshow, making the event successful one for the destination and its partners.

The marketing mission was headed by STB’s Marketing Director for Nordics, Karen Confait, and joined by the various partners and local business representatives.

On the hotel side, Avani Barbarons Seychelles Resort was represented by Crystal Abram; Devi Pentamah was present on behalf of the Hilton Hotels; Le Duc de Praslin, Valmer Resort and Castelo Beach Hotel were represented by Derek Savy; Ferruccio Tirone from Maia Luxury Resort & Paradise Sun was also part of the group.

Amanda Lang from Creole Travel Services was present to represent the DMCs alongside Amy Michel a representative from Masons Travel and Masons Hotel Group.

The Emirates Airline team consisted of Meritha Merhad, Tanya Milad and Carmen Javier; while Qatar Airways was represented by Nils Geir Askekjaer, Karin Wellington-Ipsen, Jari Nuotio, Suvi Saari, Nina Astor, Pernilla Tillas, Eunice Raila and Chantal Tabatabae.

In each city, an evening event was hosted by the Seychelles’ delegation for the local travel trade during which participants had an opportunity to network and hear more about the Seychelles as a destination through presentations made. 

Partners present from Seychelles to showcase their product build on the momentum to inspire the local players from the visited cities and motivate them to offer Seychelles to their clients as the next holiday destination.

Ms. Confait mentioned that the Nordic Roadshow generated plenty of interest and attention from agents in each of the five cities.

“Over the years, the roadshow has immensely contributed to the growth of the Nordic market as the ideal platform to provide the travel trade with increased knowledge on the destination and its products, whilst fortifying relationships between partners and I am pleased to mention that we had very good attendance from the local agents both familiar and new ones,” commented Ms Confait.

True to its nationalistic belief and its dedication to sustainability and conservations, Seychelles remains one of the destinations of choice for potential visitors from the Nordics as they seek holiday destinations that have the same environmental and sustainable awareness they do.

Ms. Confait stressed that the Nordics is a market in need of constant nurturing through events such as similar roadshow, as it holds great potential for Seychelles. Thanking the partners present on the Nordic Roadshow, she further encouraged other partners to continuously invest and keep a constant presence in the region in order to further stimulate interest in the Seychelles Islands.

With greater flight accessibility through Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines flying out of this region, the Nordic market has become more significant for the Seychelles.

For more information on Seychelles, click here.

MEDIA CONTACT: STB News Bureau, Tel: +248 4 671 354 / +248 4 671 313, [email protected]  www.seychelles.travel

Seychelles Tourism Board led Local Trade Partners on Réunion Roadshow

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Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) and its local partners embarked on a roadshow in Réunion, Saint -Gilles- Les Bains from September 16, 2019 to September 17, 2019.

The event was organised by the STB team in Reunion who prepared presentations and workshops so that they could equip Réunion Travel Trade professionals with the tools to further boost the wave of Réunion Holiday makers in Seychelles. These sessions attracted over 40 agents.

The Réunion roadshow saw participation from local partners comprising of 7° degrees South, Mason’s Travel, Seychelles European Reservation, Summer Rain Tours, Avani Seychelles Barbarons Resort & Spa and Patatran Hotel.

The STB team consisted of Mrs. Bernadette Willemin, Director Regional Europe and Ms. Bernadette Honore, Senior Marketing Executive from the STB Réunion office.

Whilst the first session consisted of presentations showing travel trade front liners staff across Réunion about what the Seychelles has to offer its visitors, the second session focused on training the Réunion Travel Trade professionals specialising in group business. 

This destination and product training initiative provided the professionals with a better understanding about the Seychelles products so that they have enough information to encourage travellers to visit Seychelles.

The STB team also received the support of the Reunion airline partner Air Austral- that provides direct connectivity to the Seychelles- as they delivered product knowledge presentations.

Commenting on the Réunion Road show, Mrs Bernadette Willemin, Director Regional Europe, stated the STB’s commitment to increase visibility and knowledge of the product to all its partners.

“Destination and product trainings are of utmost importance in this competitive tourism world and our role as a marketing tourism professionals specialist is to ensure that the travel trade professionals we interact with to sell Seychelles are well versed with our products and confident to sell our destination” said Bernadette Willemin.

Mrs. Willemin emphasised that the product-focussed training sessions are a success with the help of the trade from Seychelles.

She added, “The STB with the collaboration of its partners will continue to organise such activity on the market making sure that our Reunionais partners have all the knowledge to attend to the clients’ requests and convert them into sales”.   

 The training sessions closed with Business-to-Business meetings, where the participants had the opportunity to hold discussions with local Trade partners and Reunion Travel Trade professionals.

Members of the trade present commented unanimously that the roadshow organised by the STB team in Reunion was very successful.

They stated that the local workshop sessions were well structured and gave them an opportunity to meet various partners from different tourism fields.

MEDIA CONTACT: STB News Bureau, Tel: +248 4 671 354 / +248 4 671 313, [email protected]  www.seychelles.travel

Successful Seychelles roadshow on South African soil to woo travelers to the destination

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The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) and its local partners took to the cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town for its annual roadshow to close the month of June.

The roadshow organised by the STB office in South Africa, aims at enticing the South African and promote the different attractive holiday options to Seychelles.

 During the roadshow, the STB team alongside the travel experts from 15 exhibiting companies met on a one-to-one basis with the participants during which they made presentations about their products and services.

This year, over 300 existing and new travel agents/tour operators attended the three dedicated Seychelles workshops from June 25 to 27.

The focus marketing strategy for the roadshow was the promotion of Seychelles as a ‘must visit’ destination and knowing what is on offer.

Speaking after the workshop, the STB Director for South Africa, Lena Hoareau stated that the roadshow was a definite success for STB and the various partners.

“Seychelles remains a destination of great interest on the South African market and it is the dream of everyone to travel to those islands. The roadshow and other workshops that we organise throughout the year focus on equipping the tour operators and travel agents with information so that they can better sell the destination,” she said.

She stressed that by attending the roadshow, the participants are able to gain new knowledge on the destination as a product and its unique selling points.

Participants also had an opportunity to hear from the various exhibiting partners the different holiday packages on offer, flights details including the various airlines and connections to Seychelles, as well as accommodation options and finally the various activities both on land and at sea.

“Through the good range of exhibitors at our roadshow this year, we covered every aspect of booking a Seychelles holiday,” she added.

The STB Director for South Africa mentioned her appreciation towards the agents for turning up in high numbers and for supporting destination Seychelles.

The Seychelles Tourism Board’s team at the roadshow was led by the STB Regional Director for Africa and America, Mr. David Germain, who stated his confidence in the trade.

Mr. Germain mentioned the importance of the tourism board’s effort to provide the right platforms for the travel agents’ in order to keep them motivated and encouraged to continue selling the destination.

Besides Mr. Germain and Mrs. Hoareau, Marketing Executive Ms. Christina Cecile from the STB Headquarters also represented STB.

The other exhibitors were Air Seychelles, Creole Travel Services, 7 Degrees South, Berjaya Hotels, Constance Hotels and Resorts, Kempinski Seychelles Resort, Coral Strand and Savoy Seychelles Resort, Southern Sun Hotels, Seychelles Hospitality and Tourism Association, Holiday Factory, Seyunique, Thompsons Holidays, Cruises International and Sunsail & The Moorings.

Participants had an opportunity to win several prizes including trips to the tropical islands, at the end of the workshop in each city.

MEDIA CONTACT: STB News Bureau, Tel: +248 4 671 354 / +248 4 671 313, [email protected]  www.seychelles.travel