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South African Tourism appoints Trade Relations Officer

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Sherwin Arends joins South African Tourism (SAT) as Trade Relations Officer, bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the role following 12 years’ experience working within the travel industry.

Originally from Cape Town, Sherwin moved to the UK six years ago after travelling the world as a member of cabin crew for Qatar Airways. His most recent role was Senior Product Executive for Audley Travel.

Sherwin will be tasked with building and maintaining relationships with key travel trade contacts in the UK and Ireland while utilising South African Tourism’s research and insights to ensure the agents are provided with all the tools and support to confidently sell South Africa.

Sherwin says: “I’m very passionate about my birth country and proud of my South African heritage so I am thrilled to be joining the South African Tourism team in the UK. I’m looking forward to showcasing South Africa as a leading tourist destination, with a focus on promoting the well-known areas and experiences and helping to uncover and educate the trade on the destination’s hidden gems.”

Tolene van der Merwe Hub Head for the UK & Ireland at South African Tourism says: “We are delighted that Sherwin will be joining our growing team. His wealth of industry knowledge combined with his personal experience of South Africa will be invaluable as we collectively promote the destination to holidaymakers through the UK and Irish trade.”

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Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Bartlett named PATWA advisor

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Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has accepted an invitation to become an advisor to international travel writers’ group — Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA).

The invitation was made by the group’s Secretary General, Sagur Ahluwalia last Friday, who shared that the Minister’s rich experience will be beneficial to the organization.

In expressing his gratitude, Minister Bartlett said, “It is an honour to have been selected as an advisor to the prestigious PATWA organization. I offer my services to the organization and hope that we are able to share ideas which will have a positive impact on the growth of tourism both regionally and internationally.”

PATWA is a professional organisation of travel writers which was founded in 1998, at the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Its founding philosophy is to support PATA’s primary objectives of being a catalyst for responsibly developing the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.

Minister Bartlett was this year awarded the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s (PATWA) Tourism Minister of the Year for Sustainable Tourism for 2018 in Berlin, Germany
During the awards presentation, Jamaica also received PATWA’s International Travel Award for Destination of the Year.

The awards recognised ¬individuals and organisations that have excelled and/or are involved in the promotion of ¬tourism from different sectors of the travel trade and service ¬providers related directly or indirectly to the industry.

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

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Seychelles Tourism Board participation at EmQuest Cricket Mania 2019 – Dubai UAE

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The Seychelles has been seen on the Dubai Social scene this March as the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) participated in the EmQuest Cricket Mania 2019 which took place at the InSportz Indoor Cricket in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on March 22 and 29 2019 respectively.

The STB representative, Ms. Aliette Esther was present at the event on both days and seized the opportunity to showcase the beauty of the Seychelles Islands.

The EmQuest Cricket Mania 2019 – Dubai UAE, which is affiliated to Emirates, was organised for the 5th year and implicates cricket tournaments targeting the front staff/travel consultants of travel agencies across Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

The event, which provides the travel trade professionals with the occasion to compete against each other as well as participate in team building activities, is  attended by more than 50 teams, 500 players, comprising of the front-line travel agents and over 1000 guests.

Ms. Aliette Esther expressed her satisfaction to have been part of the event. She further explained that the STB’s participation in the Cricket Mania enabled the destination’s brand to be visible along other partners.

She reiterated on the importance of STB’s association with such events, as cricket is one of the biggest sports in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are very important markets for Seychelles.

“The STB’s participation in the EmQuest event has contributed in providing a platform for the tourism board to interact directly with the players, their families, the other sponsors and exhibitors at the event. The event definitely profited the Seychelles by increasing its reach and exposure to new clientele in the UAE market,” said Ms Esther.

Visitors included the travel agents, exhibitors, sponsors, families and other guests, were all welcome to the Seychelles kiosk. A video of the destination was played throughout the 2-day event displaying enticing activities taking place in the Seychelles.

The STB participation to the EmQuest Cricket Mania 2019 has unquestionably enhanced brand awareness and increased media exposure for the destination.

Seychelles andEmQuest have collaborated in previous events to increase the destinations visibility and the last event together was the “Sell Seychelles See Seychelles “campaign with Ethiopian Airlines and Constance Group of Hotels.

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The Travel & Adventure Show San Francisco, USA

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The Seychelles Islands marked its presence through its marketing body Seychelles Tourism Board (STB), as it exhibited at the Travel & Adventure Show 2019 edition.

The event took place in the city of San Francisco, in Northern California, on March 21-22, 2019.

The STB team was represented by the Regional Director for Africa & the Americas, David Germain, was present at the Show on the organisation’s behalf to showcase Seychelles as an extraordinary holiday destination to the 9,500 consumers, travel trade and Media who visited the exhibition at the Santa Clara Conference Center.

Mr. Germain mentions STB’s participation to the event is in line with its marketing efforts in the USA for increased arrivals from North America in 2019.

“Destination awareness and visibility is central to all we endeavor to do as Seychelles Tourism to grow our country’s market share in North America, and on the entire continent,” said Mr. Germain.

The annual participation by the STB at the Travel and Adventure shows in different cities of the United States each year, allow the STB to showcase Seychelles to a wide audience of consumers in the United States, creating awareness of the destination.

Viewed as one of North Americas largest consumer show for tourism and leisure, it is the place for holidaymakers to find information and offers about the latest travel trends, new destinations, among others.

In the prospect of raising the destination’s profile, the STB continues to increase its marketing efforts in North America during 2019, with marketing activities in different major cities in the United States during the year.

Mr. Germain further mentioned that as part of the marketing activities planned for the market for the year, media trips and agent’s familiarization visits to Seychelles would take place during the year, in collaboration with airline partners.

Mr. Germain explained that through the current available flight connectivity between North America and most major airlines, the destination has become even more accessible with easy connections to the archipelago via either Africa, Europe or the Middle East.

“Through our constant presence on the United States Market, Seychelles is today more known to the affluent North American travellers than in the last decade and the current visitor arrival figures from the Americas to the archipelago confirm that the North American market is one with great potential” said David Germain.

For the past 15 years, the Travel & Adventure Show has conducted more than 80 events in the major cities of the United States of America, connecting over 1.5 million travel enthusiasts, with over 3,700 unique travel professionals, facilitating face-to-face dialogue, which has resulted in more than 2.1 billion dollars in travel bookings worldwide.

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The Set Hotels announces key staffing changes

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The Set Hotels, comprised of the Hôtel Lutetia in Paris, the Hotel Café Royal in London, and the Conservatorium in Amsterdam announced several key staff changes. Here are the comings and goings:

Matthias Kaesweber, Vice President of Sales & Marketing is leaving The Set Hotels after three productive years to pursue other opportunities. During his time with the company, Matthias successfully created and led a highly effective global sales team, whilst playing a significant role in the continuous business growth of Conservatorium in Amsterdam, Café Royal in London and the highly anticipated re-opening of Lutetia in Paris in 2018.

Ruurd Hooijer has been appointed as Senior Director of Sales & Marketing for The Set Hotels, based in Amsterdam. Ruurd joined The Set Hotels from The Leading Hotels of the World in New York where he held the position of Senior Director, Travel Trade for North America for three-and-a-half years. In his role, Ruurd was overseeing Leading’s global partnerships with American Express, Virtuoso and other agency partners for its 400 independently-owned, luxury hotels worldwide. Prior to this, Ruurd held the position of Director of Sales at Conservatorium.

James Baker, Director of Sales & Marketing, The Americas remains in charge of The Set Hotels in North America, supported by Michal Galili Censor, Director of Sales for North America whose responsibilities have expanded as a result of her success in North America with Mamilla and The David Citadel hotels in Jerusalem, now proudly representing The Set Hotels, too.

The General Managers and Directors of Sales on-property will continue to play an active role visiting The Set Hotels’ valued trade and media partners in North America alongside James and Michal.

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