Tourism Seychelles Kicks Off Annual Mid-year Marketing Consultations

Tourism Seychelles launched its 2021 annual mid-year review and marketing consultations with local tourism partners on Tuesday, July 27, to review the performance of the destination to date and discuss and adjust plans for the second part of the year.

Seychelles recently recorded its highest weekly visitor arrivals since the onset of the pandemic in March 2021, with 5,367 visitors in Week 29 of 2021, or just 22% below that of the same week in 2019, industry stakeholders learned.

Held over the virtual platform ZOOM, the consultations, which will run over the next two weeks, kicked off with a brief address by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Ambassador Sylvestre Radegonde, to industry stakeholders in Seychelles and the Tourism Department’s staff across the world. This was followed by a presentation of the department’s strategy by the Principal Secretary for Tourism (PS), Mrs. Sherin Francis.

Addressing the industry partners, Minister Radegonde highlighted that aside from the ongoing pandemic, which is slowing down travel around the world, the local tourism industry is facing many challenges, hindering the growth of the industry. The Minister gave his reassurance that the Tourism Department is working closely with the tourism stakeholders and various government organizations to review the products offered in Seychelles and provide better services to its visitors.

Minister Radegonde commented that he is greatly encouraged by the steady growth in visitor arrival numbers, and the balanced distribution of the visitors across sizes of establishments and the various islands.

In her presentation, PS Francis provided a global overview of the current state of the local tourism industry, commenting on the impact of the global uncertainties on Seychelles’ economy as well as providing an outline of the forecast against the current arrivals numbers and forward bookings held, which show expected growth over the next two quarters.

Summarizing the arrival numbers from January 12021, to date, she shared that the destination has recorded 62,238 visitors, with almost 95%, or 59,218 visitors, arriving after March 25, following the final phase of the border re-opening.

Mrs. Francis also revealed that Seychelles had recently achieved a high point in weekly visitor arrivals since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, welcoming in Week 29 of 2021 a total of 5,367 visitors, which is just 88% of the 6,844 visitors recorded during Week 29 of 2019 (pre-pandemic).

Going forward, PS Francis affirmed the Tourism Department’s commitment to the strategy presented earlier this year by the destination’s previous and now dissolved marketing body, the Seychelles Tourism Board.

Reassuring stakeholders of the Tourism Department’s reliance on data driven strategies, PS Francis said that they will keep refining their digital marketing tactics, using newly-identified trends to target potential visitors. A major part of the strategy for the coming months will be focused on the delivery of more impactful and targeted campaigns, she affirmed.

The agenda over the coming days will feature one-on-one consultations hosted by Tourism Seychelles’ team overseas with local industry partners to discuss the current and forecasted situations in each market.

The mid-year marketing review and consultations will conclude on August 6, 2021.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tourism Seychelles, stbnews@seychelles.travel