Seychelles makes a splash at leading bridal event in Abu Dhabi |26 February 2014

Seychelles made news again this month when it was featured in Bride Abu Dhabi, the Middle East’s largest and most luxurious bridal fashion event.

Bride Abu Dhabi, an addition to Bride Dubai, offers the opportunity to capture the potential honeymooners, brides-to-be and leisure visitors to Seychelles.  

This four-day event was held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from February 12-15, 2014.

It is one of the most important consumer events in the Weddings and Honeymoon segment, and this year the event hosted over 250 local, regional and international exhibitors all looking to tap into the ever-growing Middle East market.  

After taking part in Bride Abu Dhabi for the past four years, the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) in collaboration with partners Air Seychelles Ltd, 7˚ South and Mason’s Travel took the opportunity to be a silver sponsor of this glamorous event.

With a heritage spanning 11 years and with over 16,000 visitors, Bride Abu Dhabi continues to remain at the forefront of the consumer mind for bridal, beauty and fashion trends in the Middle East.

  It is an annual event not only for Emirati ladies and their families to come together to plan everything related to one of the most celebrated events in one’s life – the wedding, but also a great number of expatriates who are looking for the perfect wedding and honeymoon destination.

With over 30,000 nuptials taking place every year, and the cost of wedding parties ranging between AED50,000 to AED500,000, the UAE is a high yield market for the destination.  

STB, together with its partners, will continue to push for visibility of the islands in this market with the aim of gaining a fair share of this fast-growing outbound travel market in the world.

Bride Abu Dhabi was therefore the perfect platform to increase “the Seychelles islands – another world” brand awareness.  The brand was featured on the outdoor billboards along various streets and roads in Abu Dhabi and the official show catalogue had a full page advert, leaflets and personalised invitation to the show as well as prior and after each fashion show (28 shows in total).

These are cost effective ways for the STB to create brand awareness among its target audience, who is specifically looking for options for their honeymoons, weddings and holidays.

A raffle draw was held on the last day of the event and our local partners Air Seychelles Ltd and the two Destination Management Companies (7˚ South and Mason’s Travel) generously gave two business class tickets, accommodation at the Banyan Tree Seychelles, transfers and a tour round the island to the lucky winner.

The STB has said it is looking forward to taking part in an even bigger event next year.

The Seychelles delegation at the bridal event in Abu Dhabi