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Jamaica now most-connected country from South America

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, announced a new flight from Lima, Peru, to Montego Bay that was inaugurated this morning.

Minister Bartlett and Minister Vasquez completed the protocols at the Lima airport.

The Lima hub is one of the largest in South America and will make Jamaica the most-connected country from South America in the English-speaking Caribbean. LATAM is the largest airline in South America.

The flight will begin a 3-day rotation today with 174 passengers and crew on board.

For more news about Jamaica, please click here.

Jamaica now most-connected country from South America
Jamaica now most-connected country from South America

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

Bartlett Looking to Boost Arrivals from Brazil

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (seen right in the photo) greets Brazilian Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, during a courtesy call at the Minister’s New Kingston office on October 29, 2019.

During the meeting, the pair discussed strengthening tourism arrange,ments to increase the number of Brazilians visiting the island annually.

Ambassador den Hartog expressed excitement about LATAM airlines inaugurating three weekly flights from Chile and other South American countries later this year.

Additionally, he commented on Copa Airlines representing a strong airlift security arrangement out of South America.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

Seychelles shines at Modetour Travel Mart 2019

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The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) participated for the first time in the sixth Mode Tour Travel Mart exhibition from the September 5 to September 8, 2019, at COEX exhibition center, in Seoul South Korea. 

The four-day exhibition for the trade and consumers garnered the participation of 57 destinations, with 550 booths from 420 organizations and companies, including tourism boards, airlines and hotels.

Mrs. Amia Jovanovic Desir, the STB Director for India, South Korea, Australia and South East Asia and Mrs. Judy Yun, Account manager of the STB Office in South Korea represented Seychelles at the exhibition.

The STB Director mentioned that the STB’s presence at the South Korean trade event follows the warm welcome received in the country as the STB team conducted a sales visit in June this year.

Team Seychelles had a prime marketing opportunity to market the destination to South Korean trade partners on the first event day, which was Business-to-Business event. 

As part of its strong strategic approach to further encourage selling the destination at the event, the STB team launched the sales contest; an initiative to reward the top three agents who have sold the most packages between October 1, 2019 and January 31, 2020 with an opportunity to conduct an educational familiarization trip to Seychelles.

The concept was received successfully as numerous partners and travel professionals who visited the STB stand showed strong interest to join the contest.

 The South Korean agents present at the exhibition also received a copy of the list of the Destination Management Companies, (DMCs) in Seychelles.

The last three days of the fair were dedicated for individual consumers. Reiterating the success encountered on the first day with the trade partners, the STB team witnessed with pleasure positive response on the consumer Spinning Roulette Event initiative organized at the STB stand to catch the attention of visitors.

 The fun based initiative require for each participant to say the word “Seychelles” out loud and spinning the roulette to receive a branded item from STB including a water bottle or sports towels.

As members of the public waited to spin the roulette, they had the chance to view Seychelles destination videos as well as the different promotional materials, which the team distributed to them.

Speaking about the success of the three consumer days, Mrs. Jovanovic Desir mentioned that the STB stand received over 1500 visitors including families, couples and children, who enjoyed the roulette and at the same time got the chance to learn about Seychelles.

“We had an opportunity to engage visitors planning to visit and explore our islands on their next holiday, they had the opportunity to seek additional information and queried of how to best to organize their visit. It is essential to add that there is a broad range and balance of segmented interest, apart from the usual thinking that Seychelles is only a honeymoon destination for the South Koreans,” said the STB Director at the event.

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

African Tourism Board condemns violence against foreigners in South African cities

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Johannesburg, Capetown, and Pretoria are turning into a bloody and deadly battlefield of violent protests and looting. Tourists are caught in the crossfire taking cover in hotels, and widespread lootings and fires are closing down entire neighborhoods.

Police are arresting dozens of protesters and shots are being fired. A rampage against foreigners living in South Africa has been in developing. It began when a Nigerian drug dealer shot a South African taxi driver on Tuesday.  After this violence against foreigners has been spreading across to the urban centers across South Africa. Angry taxi drivers littered the streets with an array of objects. The atmosphere is tense and volatile.

South Africa has been hit by an outbreak of xenophobic violence in its biggest city, attracting criticism from other African nations while political and business leaders from at least 28 countries gather in Cape Town.

Members from several countries on the African Tourism Board  WhatsApp discussion group urged the organization to take a stand. One member posted: “How do we build an image for tourism with this violence  I think condemning this is line with the objective of ATB  to promote Africa as a tourism destination. How can one treat foreigners as such?”

Another member responded: “Very true, how can Tourism thrive in such a hostile environment, it negates everything that Hospitality stands for and I am so disheartened how our black brothers and sisters in South Africa are reinforcing stereotypes that we are fighting hard to eliminate. This is truly sad, this is a failure by all standards. If there is a problem with immigrants their Immigration agency should deport people not letting their citizens degenerate to these level of savagery and violence.”

African Tourism Board condemns violence against foreigners in South African cities
Cuthbert Ncube, ATB Chair

African Tourism Board, Chairman Cuthbert Ncube agreed not to be quiet and said today from the ATB Headquarter in Pretoria: “We strongly condemn these barbaric acts by Africans to another fellow African.”

This was followed with an official statement released by the COO of the organization, Simba Mandinyen, who is currently on ATB business in London: “With great concern, the African Tourism Board takes note of the violence that started in areas in and around Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa over the last 72 hours.

ATB feels such violence of Africans against Africans is counterproductive to the image of not just South Africa but the continent at large.

The African Tourism Board calls upon the authorities to move in and stop the violence which has led to the killing of people and destruction of property.

Many tourists traveling through the country have been caught in the cross-fire and many are holed up in their hotels.

ATB hopes that Authorities will take necessary action to bring calm and normalcy and that the general public and tourists will be able to go about their businesses safely.

The ATB believes that the situation obtaining in South Africa is no longer a problem of South Africa alone but a regional and continental socio-economic challenge that requires the support and efforts of relevant regional and continental social, economic and political agencies.

The African Tourism Board continues to urge and support all arms of the government of South Africa working to resolve the violent situation. Furthermore, the ATB calls upon all people’s in the affected areas to work with and support the relevant authorities that are on the ground and dealing with the situation.”

More on the Africantourismboard can be found at www.africantourismboard.com 

MEDIA CONTACT: TravelMarketingNetwork, 954 Lexington Ave. #1037, New York, NY 10021 USA, PH: (+1) 718-374-6816, [email protected]   

Seychelles charms featured at South Korea’s Hana Tour International Travel Show 2019 (HITS)

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Korean travelers and partners had a glimpse of the beauty of the destination as Seychelles featured at the 13th Hana Tour International Travel Show from June 7, 2019 to June 9, 2019 at KINTEX exhibition center, Goyang City in South Korea.

The three-day exhibition gathered the participation of over 700 organizations and companies, including tourism boards, airlines, and hotels.

Seychelles, represented by its marketing body the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) was lodged within an 18sqm stand with the destination brand image design focusing the beach the granite feature, which commanded the attention of many visitors to the stand.

The Seychelles delegation included Mrs. Amia Jovanovic-Desir, the Director for India, South Korea, Australia and South East Asia, Mrs. Judy Yun, newly appointed representative for the Seychelles on the South Korean market, Mr. Jean-Francois Figaro, Senior Officer – Strategic Planning & Market Intelligence and Ms. Jill Freminot- E-Marketing Executive.

Aside from meeting with the Seychelles team to discuss about the destination and its features, an assortment of events were organized at the stand to retain visitors’ interest. 

The activities included the spinning Roulette through which each participant had to mention the word Seychelles as many times as indicated in order to receive a branded water bottle. The spinning Roulette saw the participation of over 600 hundred visitors, which were a combination of families, couples and children.

Visitors were also invited to take a photograph at our stand with the Seychellois staff and the iconic Coco-de-Mer, the heaviest and largest nut in the world. Visitors then were invited to upload the photo on their social media page with the hashtags #Seychelles #HITS.

The highlight of the STB’s participation at the HANA 2019 remains the lucky draw, which saw the signing up of more than 5,000 visitors, all wishing to be the lucky winner of a return trip to Seychelles for two persons.

During the 3 days, the various visitors- including individual visitors -FIT, potential honeymooners, as well as retirees showed their extensive interest in Seychelles as a holiday destination. 

As part of its participation at the HANA 2019, the STB conducted a rigorous study on the Korean market.  The exercise was successfully conducted by STB the Senior Officer – Strategic Planning & Market Intelligence, Mr. Jean-Francois Figaro whose main objective was to facilitate the Consumer Insight Survey designed for this exhibition.

The aim of the study was to generate important insight into South Korea as a source market for the Seychelles and better understand the needs and desires of South Korean travelers.

Speaking about the collection of figure at the HANA 2019, the STB Director for India, South Korea, Australia and South East Asia, mentioned that it is essential for the tourism Board to have a better understanding of the challenges faced by the STB office in Korea and Korean Tour Operators in their attempt to successfully promote and sell the destination.

To achieve these objectives Mr. Figaro together with other members of the Seychelles team gathered responses from more than 275 participants over the three-day period through the administration of survey questionnaires.

The STB’s presence at the HANA 2019 caught the attention of numerous Korean Media representatives and STB Director for the market, Mrs. Jovanovic–Desir offered several media interviews to share the latest information and further promote the destination.

‘’Most of the tour operators and agents that we have met are focusing on the honeymooner’s segment and visitors who visited our stand believe that Seychelles is only for the high-end clients. I have thus informed them that Seychelles is a destination, which cater for demand from a broad range of income brackets.  We will continuously identify the appropriate marketing strategies and tools in order to increase the Seychelles’ image in South Korea, with the aim of changing this negative mind-set of the consumers,” said Mrs. Jovanovic-Desir.

“Seychelles is known as a dream and paradise holiday destination that people wish to visit once in their lifetime. This fair definitely allows increase Seychelles visibility and people’s awareness towards destination,” added Mrs. Yun.

While in South Korea, Mrs. Jovanovic-Desir together and Mr. Figaro guided by Mrs. Yun met with some key players and trade partners in Seoul in a series of sales calls organized ahead of time. These included visits to tour Operating Company including Honeymoon Resort, Mode Tour, Vanilla Island and Dream TNE.

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