‘Stuttgart fair gives more visibility to Seychelles’ |24 January 2015

The chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) Sherin Naiken has said that the recent tourism fair in Stuttgart, Germany has given Seychelles more visibility on that market.

Ms Naiken was speaking to the press after she attended the fair accompagnied by a high level tourism delegation including the principal secretary for tourism Anne Lafortune; Bernadette Willemin, director Europe STB; Edith Hunzinger, regional manager for Germany, Switzerland and Austria; and Manoj Papa, chief executive of Air Seychelles.

A musical group from Seychelles – Latroup Nasyonal – also took part in the opening of the Caravanning, Motoring and Tourism (CMT) fair in Stuttgart while two local artists – Egbert Marday and Camille Mondon – displayed their artworks which Ms Naiken described as “an attraction for visitors in itself”.

CMT presents holiday ideas, travel destinations from around the globe, and novelties in camping and caravanning, along with a colourful entertainment programme. The nine-day fair, which includes two full weekends, is the longest of its kind in Germany. About 250,000 visitors visited the fair.

This year the fair got a special treat by the sounds, sights, and scents of our islands on special stages and a larger-than-ever Seychelles stand as the Seychelles was the fair’s official partner country.

“Why we needed to have a very high level delegation there is because the Seychelles was the main partner country of the fair. There were one or two other partner countries but we were the principal one.

“This fair helped us in our visibility drive because being a partner country your name is published each time the fair makes its promotion and we indirectly benefit from that. Because the promotions are done at the opening and at entrances to the fair and added to the performance of the Seychelles cultural troupe there, we benefitted greatly,” said Ms Naiken.

She added that as Seychelles got the chance to take part in stage performances, this enabled the country to receive substantial promotion.

She said the national troupe got the chance to perform in various points at the fair.

“The fair has a lottery for all participants in which they need to fill a form. The first prize is a trip to Seychelles. And if each of the 250,000 people takes part in the lottery and therefore becomes aware of the trip to Seychelles, automatically this translates into visibility for us,” she added.

Ms Naiken said apart from the national troupe performing and the two local artists exhibiting their works, photos were also being printed.

“Visitors to the Seychelles stand were given photos on which was printed at the bottom ‘I came to CMT fair and landed in Seychelles’. This was a souvenir for them to keep Seychelles on their mind,” said Ms Naiken.

Ms Naiken also noted that Seychelles’ presence at the fair is sure to result in more visitors from Germany to Seychelles as this European country has become our main market.

As this strategy is good for the tourism industry, Ms Naiken said her office is considering doing the same thing in another German city.

Stuttgart, with a population of just under 600,000, is the sixth largest city in Germany and the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest corner of the country, bordering France in the west and Switzerland in the south. The city, where the automobile was invented by Benz and Daimler, is also the home of world-renowned automakers Mercedes and Porsche and the equally-famous Bosch, the world’s largest supplier of automotive components, but also famous for power tools and home appliances.

Visitor arrivals in Seychelles from Germany have since been on the increase partly due to the increased visibility of the islands from the Hamburg Tourism Fair. Seychelles is also served by a direct non-stop air service by Condor of Germany.