Chinese firm wants to bring direct flight to Seychelles |14 November 2014

When the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) decided to move into China in 2011 and developed it as a source tourism market it was remarkable how fast this secondary market moved to become today a main key market for these mid-ocean islands.

Through proper positioning of the Seychelles as the new tourism destination for Chinese holiday makers, and by keeping Seychelles visible in the market it is widely accepted today that Seychelles is known as a great tourism destination by China and the word 'beautiful' is spelled out when anyone is questioned about the Seychelles.

Though constrained by lack of direct non-stop flights on the Seychelles-China route, the aggressive marketing approach by the island's tourism board offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, the East Asian market is showing rapid signs of positive growth. Today the Chinese holiday makers are flying to Seychelles with Air Seychelles from Hong Kong, and with Etihad, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Mihin Lanka (Sri Lankan Airlines).

China is a highly sought-after market for Seychelles. Figures recorded for 2014 are in fact significant. With statistics for European markets remaining a bit fuzzy, China, Seychelles leading market for the East Asian region, continues to successfully overtake all the other island's secondary markets with a spectacular increase of 77% on a year-to-date basis.  

Lined up as one of Seychelles’ top source of tourism income, the healthy growth of the Chinese market is gaining recognition, even in China.  CAISSA Touristic is a Chinese tourism enterprise committed to providing quality tourism services to Chinese citizens. Founded in Hamburg, Germany, after 20 years of steady development, CAISSA, with branches in Frankfurt, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and major global cities, is now thinking of bringing non-stop direct flight between China and Seychelles.

On the first day of his working visit to China, Alain St Ange, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, had an official one on one meeting in China with top tour operators and met Chen Xiaobing, President of CAISSA Travel Management Co.Ltd.

The minister was accompanied by the chief executive of the STB, Sherin Naiken; chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Marco Francis; chief executive of the Seychelles Enterprise Promotion Agency (Senpa) Penny Belmont; general manager of Savoy Resort & Spa, Derek Barbe; May De Silva representing 7 Degrees South; general manager Raffles Seychelles, Christoph Ganster; Alan Mason and Jessica Giroux representing Mason’s Travel; Guillaume Albert from Travel Services Seychelles and Tot-Leong Sweeting of Select-Seychelles.

During the meeting members of the Seychelles delegation were united in their bid to sell Seychelles as the new destination for the Chinese holiday makers. Mr Chen Xiaobing, broke the news of his company’s plan to open up non-stop direct flights from Beijing to Seychelles.  The first flight is expected to operate in October 2015 and projected to bring annually 25,000 travellers. This great news for China and Seychelles is the result of close collaborative work between the STB office in China and CAISSA.

The non-stop direct flights demonstrate that demand is there from passengers across China to travel to long haul destinations such as the Seychelles, and they also provide an alternative gateway to Seychelles for passengers seeking direct flights.

CAISSA is not new in operating chartered flights. In 2011, the company operated its first non-stop chartered flight to Japan. Today, CAISSA is one of the world’s leading non-stop chartered flights operators. It has positioned itself in some of the most profitable emerging tourism markets such as Switzerland and Bali. CAISSA, which sees Seychelles as the next conquering market, is in the process of acquiring in 2015 its widebody airbus A320.
President Chen Xiaobing said CAISSA is “a responsible and serious company willing to invest in Seychelles”.

The Seychelles delegation welcomed CAISSA’s dream to move in Seychelles with non-stop direct flights. Minister St Ange gave his reassurance in supporting this venture.

“The Seychelles Ministry of Tourism and Culture’s dream is to have direct non-stop flights to Seychelles from China. It is something that we dearly want to see for the continued growth of our tourism industry,” Minister St Ange said.

Mason’s Travel of Seychelles is currently the ground handling Destination Company working with CAISSA. In its evaluation of the Seychelles market, CAISSA set quite a fuzzy picture of challenges faced by the travel agent to sell agents. CAISSA said Seychelles needs to better understand Chinese travellers and their habits. The company explained that Chinese travellers when compared to western holiday markers plan their holidays at the last minute.

In regards to marketing of Seychelles in China, CAISSA is convinced Seychelles can still be more aggressive in its marketing drive and that it should increase its marketing budget on the Asian market.

Ms Naiken gave her reassurance to CAISSA that the STB office in Beijing and Seychelles will work closely with CAISSA to move forward the company’s dream.